Pain's Stoic Pleasures
by Wingless Night
Summary: [COMPLETED!]Gatou’s Auction House is the place to go to participate in an underground slave trade of young boys. Uchiha Sasuke is a wellknown customer of one night rentals, but what happens when he wants to take one of the top five home? SasuNaru, OroNaru
1. Prologue

_Hi, this is Kyuubi-kun once more. I am coming out with this fic instead of Live to Hate, Hate to Live at the moment because I'm more interested in this one. However, it's rated R and the warnings are as listed._

_Language  
__Nudity  
__Sexual Abuse  
__Rape  
__Yaoi (SasuNaru, OroNaru)  
__Shonen Ai (SasuNaru)  
__Slave Ring  
__Drugs  
__Etc. _

_If you have a problem with anything listed above, get your ass out of here, because I don't and I'm the author. Thank you, and please enjoy the prologue. _

**Pain's Stoic Pleasures  
****Prologue**

Many people realize that a coin has two sides, or that a book has two sides. However, very few seem to care that sometimes, the Underground of a business sells more than the face it shows to the world.

One such business that has this happen is called Gatou's Auction House. It is owned by a rich, wily man named Gatou. On Sundays through Thursdays, his auction house is open to the public, where they may indulge in fine artifacts from all over the world. They can set things up to be sold here, on those days only.

Few care what happens during the weekends at this fine establishment. Few care what goes on behind the large walls of the place.

For on Fridays and Saturdays, there is a different type of auction that takes place here. And this auction is only known by those who are rich enough to be invited. Strange, yet beautiful merchandise is always placed on display in this auction.

The auction places slaves, all male and all from ages eight to eighteen, on display. The boys were all given codenames so that they would be able to survive the world without being known as whores by their real name. Each nickname was solely that slaves.

Uzumaki Naruto was such a slave of Gatou's. He was nine years old and didn't trust anyone, not even the hand that fed him. He had gone through the four years of training that it took for one to learn how to "best please one's new master" as it was said, but he hadn't liked it one bit. Still, there was nothing he could do against it. This was his home.

Naruto was small for his age, which made him even more enticing for pedophiles that generally lurked around the Auction House. He had bright golden blonde hair that looked like sunshine and deep blue eyes that looked like the summer sky. His skin held just a hint of tan and his cheeks bore three whisker marks each. Those were from a time in his past that he didn't want to remember.

Naruto should have been used to being around the Auction House. He should have been happy that he was here rather than where he had been, but he couldn't help hating the place. It promoted slave trade and to the men with the money, the blonde was only another slave.

He didn't speak much, except when he felt it necessary to yell at all who dared oppose him. He was slightly bipolar because of his dark past. But that didn't really hinder his thoughts in the most. He knew who he was – it was the rest of the world that was confused.

"Orochimaru-sama," Gatou was saying. Naruto knew Gatou's voice by heart. It was the only voice that addressed him by his real name, instead of his nickname – which is what everyone else called him.

"Yes?" the slippery voice of the pallid rich man next to the squat Auction House owner said.

"Judging by what you put on your application to the Auction House, I believe that we do have what you are searching for," Gatou was saying.

Orochimaru's eyes glanced over the naked boys in the displays, each one slightly different than the one next to it.

Suddenly, the rich man stopped in front of a display. The boy inside was, like all the others, tied so that he was standing up. His head was down, but Orochimaru could see the sunshine blonde locks that seemed to glimmer in the darkness.

"And who is this one?" the man asked.

Gatou looked at the boy, recognizing him in a second. "This one is Soukyuu," he said. "Age nine. Does he interest you, Orochimaru-sama?"

"Yes, what is his cost for keeping?" Orochimaru asked. _Soukyuu_ The pallid man thought to himself. _Azure skies?_

Gatou smirked. "His price starts at one thousand dollars, and then the auction takes place from there, as it always does. His item number is three-dash-oh-nine-six."

"Thank you," Orochimaru said.

The two sauntered off, gazing at the other merchandise that was on display for the auction tonight.

* * *

The auction was in full swing. Many slaves had been bought for either one-night rentals or for four years, which is what the contract was. Orochimaru was waiting patiently in his seat for the Soukyuu to come out so that he could buy the boy for four years. He wanted that child.

The boy looked so beautiful, but also quiet tamed. Even if he wasn't tamed, Orochimaru would train him to _be_ tamed. The thought nearly aroused the man, but he managed to control himself well.

Suddenly, the boy came out. He was standing, legs apart and arms folded behind his neck, on the spinning display table. The table was spinning slowly so that everyone could get a good look at all aspects of the boy's body. Orochimaru barely heard the auctioneer saying, "Bids start at one thousand, ladies and gentlemen for the Soukyuu here. One thousand."

"One thousand five hundred," Orochimaru yelled out, holding up his number.

"We have one thousand five hundred, do I hear a one thousand six hundred, anyone?"

Another man on the other side of the room called out, "Two thousand."

Orochimaru would not let his prize go to anyone else. "Five thousand," he screamed.

"Six thousand," the other man challenged.

"Seven thousand," was Orochimaru's reply.

The other man hesitated, before sitting down once more. The auctioneer smiled, calling out, "Seven thousand. Going once? Going twice? Sold! To Orochimaru for seven thousand."

Orochimaru walked out of the auction hall, going to the pick up center, feeling quiet proud of himself. He had won his prize and if the boy wasn't as good as he thought he was, then he was just going to have to make the child _worth_ that seven thousand. After all, a poor investment is always made better with a little bit of hard work.

He went to the pick-up stand. The man sitting behind the desk looked at him, an expression of respect on his pale features.

"I am Orochimaru," the richer of the two said. "I bought the Soukyuu for a four-year term. Seven thousand dollars. Where is my slave?"

"Just sign right here, Orochimaru-sama," the man at the desk said. "And I'll get the boy for you."

Orochimaru quickly scanned over the contract. Nothing knew had been added since his last purchase, so he knew that he was qualified within legal grounds to own Soukyuu. He picked up the pen that was lying on the desk and signed his name at the bottom.

A few minutes later, Naruto was led out of the room next to the desk by a leash attached to the collar around his neck. He was still wearing nothing, but Orochimaru didn't care about that. It meant that he could see all of his new slave. The leash was handed to him without any further ado and Orochimaru began to drag his Soukyuu out of the building.

* * *

When the two of them arrived back at Orochimaru's house, Orochimaru removed the leash, but not the collar. The boy looked up at him, blue eyes mournful, but Orochimaru could care less about that. 

"There are only a few things that you must perform in this house, Soukyuu," Orochimaru said. "First, you must be a good partner for me in bed. If you are not, then I will_ make_ you become one. Second, you are to follow my _every_ command without question. Third, you are to warm my bed at least once a day, if not more – depending on the mood I am in. Do you understand all of that?"

Slowly, slightly fearful, Naruto nodded. He didn't like being the slave of this man, but there really wasn't much choice that he had.

"Good," Orochimaru stated. He looked at the boy, licking his lips in anticipation. "Come along, Soukyuu, your duties start tonight."

_

* * *

It's fine being foolish  
So look out for all traces of our dreams  
Farewell, azure days  
Let us go with the flow - Someday we will become adults  
and gradually become tainted  
Only the ripe fruits will be picked  
and sliced by the knife  
But before we get swallowed  
We all strive for Shangri La without being taken over by our desires  
We keep searching for a freedom covered in fantasies  
I'm about to say this now that this is the eternity we want  
Farewell, azure days _

- Angela, Shangri La

* * *

Kyuubi-kun's Korner! 

_Don't yell at me for this fic. I had the idea pop into my head. And so I decided to do it. Yeah… I know, I have several other fics to update but I had to make this one. It had been floating around my head for a long long time. Also, yeah… I might post this up elsewhere as well, for when I get into the more… um… sexual side of things? Don't ask me where the idea for this came from. To be honest, I really don't know. Yeah… Anyways… moving on…_

_This will be updated whenever. I hope to be updating my other fics soon as well. Also, did anyone besides me wake up this morning and realize that there's only a week until Christmas? I felt like screaming. I'm writing a Naruto Christmas Fic but its not even halfway completed! AARGH!_

_Hope at least some people like this very very sadistic side of me… sorry about it… I really don't mean to have it. It just kind of appeared on its own. Yeah… oh well. Moving on, review, please! I wanna know if I should continue this…_


	2. Request

_Thank you everyone for your reviews. I was so happy when I got almost forty with just one chapter. It makes me feel as though perhaps my writing is liked, as well as my insane plot ideas. Anyways, I hope that you all will enjoy chapter number one! Once again, the warnings are as followed: _

_Language  
__Nudity  
__Sexual Abuse  
__Rape  
__Yaoi (SasuNaru, OroNaru)  
__Shonen Ai (SasuNaru)  
__Slave Ring  
__Drugs  
__Etc. _

_Right now I'm happy to have all of you guys by my side. Let's all enter the new millennium as happy yaoi whores. Anyone with me?_

**Pain's Stoic Pleasures  
****Chapter One: Request**

Naruto, or "Soukyuu" stared outside the bars of his cage. It was an off night, so he did not need to be tied like he was when he was "on display." It didn't bother him as much as it used to – not after four years with Master Orochimaru. The man had succeeded in breaking the blonde haired, blue eyed slave.

Naruto was still Naruto, but he shook whenever he saw Orochimaru come. It was law in Gatou's Auction House that once you rented a slave for four years, you had to wait four more before you could take the same slave out again. However, that did not forbid anyone from one-night rentals.

Orochimaru still came by for one-nights with Naruto. It made the boy's skin crawl whenever he was told that Orochimaru would have him once again, but he was glad that the pallid man was only able to afford him once a week, and not everyday. He was always happy for off-days.

At the age of sixteen, Uzumaki Naruto had grown. No more was he the small nine-year old who had been sold off to Orochimaru. He had developed muscles, and a well-tanned body. His sunshine hair hung in spike waves to his shoulder, giving him a rugged, feral look. The scars on his cheeks – from Orochimaru's treatment – were still there. Naruto shuddered as he remembered it. He couldn't forget Orochimaru – he couldn't! No matter how hard he tried, the man kept coming back to haunt him.

"Here's your food, Soukyuu," a voice interrupted his thinking. Naruto looked up and saw Neji-sama there. Neji was the one who looked after him and six other slaves. He could probably be compared to a groom at a barn, in charge of six of the beasts. He made sure that they were well groomed before going on display and that they were well fed and didn't have any problems.

Neji was really the only person that Naruto could call his friend.

"Thank you, Neji-sama," Naruto mumbled, bowing his head.

"Soukyuu?" Neji asked, noticing that the boy was definitely not himself. The only thing that he could think of that could cause this change in the slave was another nightmare about Orochimaru. Naruto had always had them since coming back to the Auction House, but over time they had occurred less and less. This was the first time that it would be for about three months.

"Is it… _him_?" Neji wanted to know, white eyes concerned. Naruto looked up at his groom sharply, as though Neji had said something he shouldn't have.

That was all it took for Neji's suspicions to be confirmed. If he had had the money, Neji would have bought Naruto for four years and then try to help the boy through this, but one of the reasons that Neji was a groom here was because he had no cash.

The Hyuuga boy handed Naruto his breakfast, knowing that after that one glance, the blonde would not speak so there was no reason to stay. He checked everyone else that he had to look after before looking at his watch.

It was seven o'clock.

An idea struck him as he grabbed his coat to leave. At his school there was a boy who came from a rich family – Uchiha Sasuke. Neji and Sasuke weren't exactly friends, but they weren't enemies either. Thinking of Sasuke as Naruto's last hope, Neji got the keys to his motorcycle out. It was a gift from his father when he had turned sixteen. The eighteen year old boy hopped onto the vehicle and strapped his helmet on.

It was time to go and find the Uchiha.

* * *

Neji found Sasuke at home, luckily. After all, since they were not friends, Neji had no idea where else the boy might be.

"Hyuuga-san," Sasuke said tonelessly. "Is there a reason you showed up at my door?"

The Uchiha was arrogant, but that was how he had been raised. Neji had been raised the same way – proud of his heritage, but then the Main House had cut off the flow of money to the Branch House so Neji had been forced to find himself a job. However, that is another story.

"Uchiha-san, I have a request for you," Neji said, not even bothering with formalities such as "Hello, how are you?" Neither of them cared for that. They just cut straight to the point happily.

"Oh?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, may I come inside to ask you this?" Neji wanted to know.

Sasuke, after a moment, nodded and stepped aside. Neji swept passed him and waited for Sasuke to close the door. Sasuke did and then led his guest to a parlor. A maid approached them, for Uchiha lived in a mansion and all mansions must have maids.

"Shall I prepare tea for you and your guest, Sasuke-sama?" the maid asked.

Sasuke nodded, for it was protocol to always give a guest tea when they entered the Uchiha home.

The maid bowed and swept off to prepare the tea.

"Now, Hyuuga-san, what is this request that you wanted to ask me?" Sasuke asked as soon as the maid was gone.

Neji thought about how to best phrase his next words. "I see you around Gatou's Auction House from time to time, on the nights where only those with a pass are allowed to enter," he began. Seeing Sasuke's feral look, as though he were about to attack Neji, Neji sighed. "Don't worry, Uchiha-san, I am not here to turn you in or because I stalk you. I work at Gatou's Auction House." Sasuke's tense frame calmed slightly, showing that he was listening to what Neji was saying.

"At Gatou's, I'm a groom for the merchandise on those particular nights," Neji continued. He stopped abruptly when he heard the maid about the reenter. She did and placed the teacups and pot, sugar bowl, etc. in front of them. She made Sasuke's tea by heart and filled up the second cup.

"Sugar, sir?" she asked.

"Two," Neji responded.

The maid put in two lumps before bowing and exiting once again. Neji picked up the cup and stirred the sugar into the tea before tasting it. It was Earl Grey – a fine brand that Neji himself loved.

"So you're a groom at Gatou's?" Sasuke prodded, curious as to what Neji was here for. Before now, it was more like he was listening to the Hyuuga out of politeness but now he was genuinely interested in what Neji was talking about.

"Yes, I am," Neji replied. "I take care of six of the slaves that are placed up for auction. One of them is 'Soukyuu,' and thus I bring myself to my request." He paused, drinking for a moment.

"Which is?" Sasuke asked.

Neji sighed. Sasuke had a record for looking at the merchandise – for knowing the difference between a good slave and a bad one and his opinion was highly respected because of this knowledge, but he only did one night rentals, in the three years that he had been a part of Gatou's auction house.

"Soukyuu has a problem with a former master of his, who abused him and still comes with one-night rentals of the boy," Neji explained. Closing his eyes, he breathed deeply, trying to quell the anger that had risen in him at those words. "Soukyuu needs to be bought by someone for four years, in order to get over what his former master did to him."

"And why would you come to me?" Sasuke asked. "We both go to the same school, Hyuuga-san, a school which requires a hefty price in order to get into. Why haven't you just bought him for four years?"

"Within the last few years, the Main House of the Hyuuga's have stopped supplying the share the contract dictates to the Branch House, of which I am a part of. Therefore, I use almost all of my paychecks from Gatou's Auction House in order to pay for tuition. I would have left and gone to another school already, but there's only a little bit of my senior year left and therefore I did not see the point."

"So why don't you wait until you get the money?"

"Because in October, which is only a few months away, his former master's four year wait on buying Soukyuu expires. I will not be able to raise enough to counter him until December, at the very least."

The two boys were silent for a moment. Sasuke was a year younger than Neji, so he was only a junior, but the two were both in pretty much all of the same activities so they knew each other. Sasuke also knew that Neji would not come to him unless the situation was absolutely necessary.

"Are you asking me to purchase Soukyuu for four years?" Sasuke wanted to know, getting straight down to it.

"That is what I hope will happen, but no, that's not what I'm asking," Neji replied. "I'm asking that you think about Soukyuu. Get him for one night and see how you like him… if you like him, and the price is right, then please, do purchase him. I trust you more than his former master."

Sasuke's curiosity got the best of him. "Who was Soukyuu's former master?" he wanted to know.

Neji offered the boy an apologetic look (as he never smiled). "I'm sorry, Uchiha-san," he told the boy. "I am not allowed to give away the names of anyone who is involved in Gatou's Auction House. It's for the privacy of the individuals."

Sasuke nodded, understanding what Neji was saying.

"All right, Hyuuga-san," Sasuke finally said. "I will get Soukyuu for one night and see what I think of the boy."

Neji nodded as the two stood up. "Thank you, Uchiha-san," he told him. "You are the only customer of Gatou's that I would trust with Soukyuu."

Neji left. Sasuke stood there for a few more seconds. For some reason, what Neji had said made him feel very flattered. Shaking his head, he rid these thoughts from his mind.

Sitting down, he looked at a picture on the wall. It had been taken so many years ago, but this was Sasuke's private parlor so he could decorate it with what he wished to. The picture was of Sasuke and a friend that he had had many years ago. He could not remember the boy's name, but he could remember his personality.

The boy had been like the sun, matching the color of his hair. However, he was also as mysterious as the sea, matching the color of his eyes.

Sasuke shook his head once more. It would not do to dwell on the past. He took another sip of tea as he thought once more of the problem at hand.

_Soukyuu__, eh?_ He thought to himself. Above him, the happy eyes of the picture on the wall stared at him knowingly.

_Now you sit on your throne  
__Smaller, yet you have grown  
__Used to be close to hom  
__Now you feel all alone  
__Nothing left to call your own  
__Feeling pains you've never known  
__Take your skin dear, leave the bones  
__Now you feel real, all alone_

_Deadsy__, This Goodnight_

_

* * *

__Kyuubi-kun's Korner!_

_Hi everyone, since there are so many reviews, I doubt I'll be doing a answer-everyone thing. Sorry to those who hoped for it to be here, but I'm really lazy and really tired and am hoping that I can update (or at least start) a chapter on another story so that I please everyone who's been so patient for me to update. _

_Thanks for your reviews, I love reading them. _

_Ciao! _

_Kyuu__-kun_


	3. Just a Boy

_Hello everyone, thanks for all of the reviews. I also wanted to specially thank Nazo-sempai for her review (one, because she never reviews and she made me feel all special, and two, because she is the master of clichés and managed to point out a few things). It helped me a lot, and yeah, there are some changes in this chapter, which I will get into later. Also, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed because all of you make me feel special. I enjoy each and every review that I receive and so therefore, by reviewing, you are making me become motivated enough to write another chapter. Consider yourselves lucky… I usually write chapters in classes, but I don't have school this week. Most people would think that that would mean I'm going to update more. That's bullshit when it comes to me… I've been too busy with some other things to think seriously about writing. I need my boring ass classes in order to write. If I don't have my classes, I'm not going to update for a while. Now, back to other things, as I've ranted too long about nothing. _

_In reference to Naruto's nickname, I must say that I did change it. After much debate, lots of thinking and watching anime (squee), I came to the conclusion that Kyuubi was too overused, and so I came up with a new nickname. The prologue and first chapter have already been edited but this notice is here for those of you who don't bother reading what came before when one updates. Don't worry – I do it as well. Anyways, I changed Naruto's whorename to "Soukyuu." Instead of focusing on the fox, for once, I want to focus on the boy named Naruto – and in this case, Soukyuu. Soukyuu is translated to mean "azure skies." I think that fits him a lot, and if you don't agree, then don't. I'm not forcing anyone, but Azure Skies represents the boy that I see in Naruto, rather than the demon that he is made out to be. Thank you all for listening to this rant as well. Now, I shall stop my rambling and hope that all of you enjoy this chapter. _

**Pain's Stoic Pleasures  
****Chapter Two: Just a Boy**

For Uzumaki Naruto, Friday came all too soon and he was being tied to his post like he was _every_ weekend. It was a little chilly in the warehouse and he gave an involuntary shiver when a cold breeze clung to his bare skin.

"Are you alright?" Neji, who was tying him, asked.

Naruto just nodded, his eyes clouded over and mouth just a grim line. He knew that tonight could be the night that Orochimaru would come back and purchase him for the night.

He didn't like the idea of that happening. After all, even though it was very likely to happen, he still didn't want it to happen. Orochimaru – nights with him were Hell. The pallid man had a strong fetish for S&M. He loved making Naruto the "Pet" and himself the "Master" as though Naruto were a dog, which the blonde actually believed would be a step up from being what he was. He wasn't paid for his services, but if he didn't do them, then the punishment would fall under the category of "cruel and unusual."

Gatou was famous for those. Naruto had never been subjected to any of these tortures, but he had seen others. He didn't want to experience them for himself.

Neji was soon done tying him where he was and left, leaving the boy to hang there for hours until the auction ended. If someone purchased him, he would be collared and leashed and led off to the buyer's home. If not, then he would be led back to his cell and given something to eat, drink and then told to sleep (which he would gladly do).

It was a routine that was rarely broken among any of the slaves. Yet this routine was broken tonight when a tall, pale boy stopped in front of him.

Naruto usually refused to look at customers, not being able to stand the hungry stares (as though he were a doll in a toy shop that everyone wanted). However, this man before him now intrigued him. Naruto couldn't point out why. He supposed that it was the cold, indifferent stare of the person.

The man before him was taller than him. Dark hair hung over a pale face and obsidian eyes glittered from behind those black bangs. He was dressed in a suit, as many of the men here were, but there was a different air about him. He was a person who held his head high, a person that no one would willingly mess with. There was a cold feel to the atmosphere around him.

One of the reasons that this man intrigued Naruto was the fact that he was staring at the blonde. That, in and of itself, wasn't something big – considering Naruto was number two on the list of boys. The only person that beat him was a slave named Haku, but that's a different story and so we shall not go into it. Those black eyes that could swallow anything were staring at the blonde, but not with the hungry intention all other eyes had. They studied him, but did not engulf him in the mind behind those eyes. It was strange to be stared at with such an indifferent gaze. It almost made Naruto uncomfortable, had it not been for the three men beside this one that were staring at him hungrily.

One of those men was Orochimaru.

"Ah, Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru said, his slimy voice making Naruto's blood run cold. How he hated that snake-like man! "I didn't know you were here tonight."

"Just looking, Orochimaru-sama," Sasuke, the man with the indifferent gaze, replied.

Orochimaru nodded. "Do you see anything of interest?" he wanted to know.

Sasuke shook his head. "Nothing today, I suppose."

With that, the Uchiha was gone, and Naruto was almost sad, in his gut, to see him leave. He wanted those indifferent eyes to stare at him. After all, the hungry gaze of Orochimaru was… almost destroying him.

Naruto sank into his weekly stupor, where he thought of nothing and he saw nothing. It wasn't long before everyone was called to the auction house connected to the warehouse.

It was then that those eyes returned. That gaze which left Naruto feeling barer than being naked.

The person came up to him, walking slowly. His shoes echoed on the stone floor as he drew nearer to the case that held Naruto.

"You are Soukyuu, are you not?" a cold voice asked.

Naruto looked up, nodding slightly. It was the same man as before, but now that Naruto got a good look, he realized that it was only a teenager that was standing before him. What would a teenager be doing in a perverse place like this and not be a slave, Naruto wondered.

He didn't think about it too much because he knew that the other boy must be richer than rich to afford a pass to this auction.

The teenager was studying the blonde again, as though coming to a conclusion. All of the sudden, Neji appeared next to Naruto.

"Uchiha-san," he nodded to the boy on the other side of the glass.

"Hyuuga-sempai," the teenager replied.

Naruto felt the cuffs around his ankles loosening. He knew that it was too early for the auction to be completely over, so the only other option was that he had been bought. They had changed the way that the auction was run. Instead of bringing the slaves out, one by one, they just called their name and showed a profile picture of them for people to see.

"Who?" the blonde boy breathed, staring at Neji for an answer. Neji was silent as he undid the cuffs on his charge's wrists.

"I'm sorry, Soukyuu," he began. "It's _him_."

Naruto's eyes widened as he realized what was being said. "No," he muttered. He couldn't go to Orochimaru. He didn't want to see that man… he didn't feel ready. Not like he ever felt ready, but Naruto had felt some _hope_ in that indifferent gaze and that hope was shattered at the moment.

As soon as he knew that he was free, the blonde tried to bolt, tried to get away. Neji was used to this (as it happened every time Naruto was purchased by Orochimaru).

"Soukyuu, just calm down!" Neji tried to reason with Naruto, but there was nothing to be reasoned with.

Orochimaru was a monster. Naruto had seen what he could do and he didn't want to go through it again.

After all, it couldn't ever count as child abuse when Naruto was just a whore. An "unfortunate". **_(1)_**

"No… no!" Naruto screamed, kicking out at Neji. The Hyuuga sighed.

"I'm sorry," he whispered before he managed to get Naruto under control completely. He pushed the boy against the side of the cell, holding him there until he got the collar on him. Attaching the leash to the collar only took a moment.

Naruto knew to give up the fight once the leash had been attached. After all, if he didn't cooperate now, he would be receiving a large pain in the neck.

Uchiha Sasuke watched as the boy was led through the entrance at the back of the display case and off to be picked up by whomever had purchased him.

* * *

The next night, Naruto found himself purchased again – this time by the teenager with the cold, indifferent stare that he had been so obsessed with the night before. Uchiha Sasuke was the name of his current master, for the night at least. The brunette led Naruto home and brought him into his pantry, telling him to take a seat. 

Naruto sat on the floor, as was expected of slaves like himself. Sasuke didn't blink, nor did he correct the seating arrangement. Instead, he locked the door to his pantry and sat down in a chair, looking at Naruto with a scrutinizing gaze.

"You are not here to service me as of yet, Soukyuu," Sasuke growled at the blonde.

Naruto was confused. Why had this teenager gone through the trouble to purchase him when he wasn't going to be of much use to the boy? Obviously, the brunette seated before him had a few screws loose in the head, according to the blonde.

Sasuke noticed a few differences about the slave in front of him. He had noticed these at the auction house, but hadn't gotten as good of a look as he had at the moment. There was a bruise at the corner of the boy's mouth, as well as scratches on his back. A few other bruises dotted the boy's arms and legs and there were rope burns around his wrists.

Reaching forward, Sasuke removed the collar attached to the boy's neck, noticing that there were burns around the neck as well, which he hypothesized were from the collar.

Cupping Naruto's jaw, Sasuke brushed a thumb over the wound near the blonde's mouth. "Does it hurt?" he asked.

Slowly, Naruto shook his head. It was strange. The only person who had ever asked him that question in his life had been Neji. Hearing it from his temporary master was something that he had never thought to be possible.

"I'll be honest with you, Soukyuu," Sasuke said. "I only purchased you because a classmate of mine asked me to. I don't suppose you know me, though. My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't care what you call me, but you intrigue me."

"What do you mean by that?" Naruto let out before he could stop himself. Sasuke raised an eyebrow and there was a look of fear that crossed the blonde's eyes before Naruto braced himself, obviously thinking that Sasuke was going to hit him.

"I'm not going to hit you," Sasuke told him. "I don't see the point of hitting slaves. Last night, you fought against your caretaker, even though you knew that the inevitable was going to happen."

"That's not all Soukyuu did," Naruto stated proudly, though the fear still entered those azure eyes after he said this.

"Talk as though we were on the same statue level," Sasuke snapped. "That is what I bought you tonight for – to see if you could keep from boring me." He paused here, staring unmercifully at Naruto. "Now, what do you mean by that."

Naruto gave a sly half grin. "That's not all Soukyuu did," he repeated. "When Neji-sama brought Soukyuu down to exchange place, and Master took Soukyuu's leash, Soukyuu bit his hand hard. It was bloody. Soukyuu proud, though Soukyuu did get hit for it." Naruto took this time to point to the bruise on his mouth. He lowered his eyes and his shoulders slumped. "Soukyuu got punished by Master later anyway."

"Who's 'Master'?" Sasuke inquired.

"Soukyuu don't know Master name, just that he's Master," was Naruto's response. Naruto wanted to play it off as though he were a bumbling idiot, who couldn't even speak right, but something told him that Sasuke knew better. He didn't know why he felt like that, but he did.

"Why did you bite him then?" Sasuke wanted to know. "You didn't bite me when I took hold of your leash."

Naruto smiled at Sasuke, a genuine one. He blushed slightly and looked away when he realized what he was doing. The blonde then said, "You don't hurt me." He had decided that now was good to drop the third-person idiot routine. It was obvious that Sasuke wasn't falling for it anyway. "And your eyes…" His voice died off.

"What about my eyes?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto chewed on his lip for a moment before he answered the other teenager. "Your eyes make me feel warm."

_

* * *

_

Just a day,  
Just an ordinary day.  
Just tryin to get by.  
Just a boy,  
Just an ordinary boy.  
But he was looking to the sky.  
And as he asked if i would come along  
I started to realize-  
That everyday you find  
Just what he's looking for,  
Like a shooting star he shines.  
He said take my hand,  
Live while you can  
Don't you see your dreams right in the palm of your hand?

Vanessa Carlton, Ordinary Day

* * *

Kyuubi-kun's Korner! 

**_(1) _**_An unfortunate: Earlier today, I watched "From Hell" and in it, Heather Graham says, "Why would you care for a whore? Oh, wait, I'm sorry, an "unfortunate." England has no whores, only very unlucky women." It's basically used in the same context here._

_By the way, I do realize that I focus heavily on Sasuke's eyes in this chapter. I don't mind if you just skim through those paragraphs. After all, its nearly 1:30 in the morning and I've been up for nearly twelve hours (a personal record for Saturday, which I usually sleep through) and so therefore I probably make little to no sense at all. _


	4. Finding Home

_Here I am again, everyone. So soon after the last chapter was out, I decided that I felt well enough to write another. Of course, this one is still done without any consideration of sleep for over twenty-four hours. I think I'm reaching into the thirties now, and its really fun. I feel alive, and dead at the same time. That really doesn't make any type of sense, does it? Good… at least I'm not the only one here who realized that. _

_Well, I shan't bore you with obnoxious rambling today, for I am too tired to even begin to fathom randomness, for it does need fathoming to pull off exactly correct. _

_On with Chapter Three!_

**Pain's Stoic Pleasures  
****Chapter Three: Finding Home**

Naruto smiled at Sasuke, a genuine one. He blushed slightly and looked away when he realized what he was doing. The blonde then said, "You don't hurt me." He had decided that now was good to drop the third-person idiot routine. It was obvious that Sasuke wasn't falling for it anyway. "And your eyes…" His voice died off.

"What about my eyes?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto chewed on his lip for a moment before he answered the other teenager. "Your eyes make me feel warm."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this. He had often been told that he had cold eyes, evil eyes, indifferent eyes, sexy eyes and several other things along those lines. However, this was the first time he had ever been told that he had _warm_ eyes.

"What makes you think something like that?" the teenager asked in a sharp tone.

Naruto flinched at the voice and looked down, his face becoming a stony mask once more. There was no trace of the smile that had brightened his features just a moment before.

"It… um… well…" Naruto stumbled over the words and was trying to hide how embarrassed he was about the whole predicament. However, that wasn't working too well.

"You see…" Naruto began, stopping once more as he tried to figure out his words. Sasuke waited patiently, coldly staring at the blonde. Naruto could feel the heat of that gaze on him, and he was filled with that forbidden warmth. He didn't know why he categorized it as forbidden, but since it had never happened before, he supposed that it was most likely forbidden. At least according to Master Orochimaru.

"I can't quite explain it," Naruto began once more. "I… your eyes just make me feel warm. That's all there is too it."

Sasuke was silent after hearing this. He studied Naruto closely, trying to find something in the boy's face that would hint to whether he was telling the truth or whether he was lying through his teeth. Something told the brunette that the blonde in front of him was not lying. He wasn't sure if that made him feel better or worse about this.

"Ano… Uchiha-sama?" Naruto asked quietly, his eyes wide, like a child's. Sasuke felt a strange stirring in his stomach – something akin to guilt – as he stared into those azure orbs. He supposed that it was because of the boy's eyes that he was named Soukyuu – or azure skies. It fit the color of his eyes so well.

"Yes?" Sasuke answered, curious as to what Naruto was going to ask.

"Why…" Naruto paused.

"You can ask any question here, and I won't hold it against you," Sasuke told the blonde sternly.

Naruto only nodded, waiting a few more moments before he began to speak again. "Why do you purchase slaves?" Naruto wanted to know. Sasuke was startled by this question. However, Naruto was not finished. "What purpose do we serve to others? By… buying us… by making bids and using us… don't you people realize how much you're destroying us?"

Sasuke was quiet for a moment. Naruto hung his head, afraid that he had offended Sasuke and that he would be punished. Naruto had not just been rented out to Orochimaru. Some gentlemen that purchased him over the years had said that they would not hurt him and the minute he made a tiny mistake, they would hit him. Naruto didn't trust the word of the noblemen. It changed too much to be of any value to the poor slave.

"Why do I purchase slaves?" Sasuke repeated, as though the question was foreign to him.

He knew why he did it – but he wasn't entirely sure that he wanted Naruto to know such secrets about him. He knew about the boy in the picture behind him – the boy that had been destroyed because of Sasuke.

Sasuke purchased slaves in order to redeem himself for what had happened to the blonde in the picture with him on the wall. That boy – his first and only friend – had had his life tainted because of the Uchiha. There was nothing that Sasuke could do except for try to atone for his sins of the past. He wasn't very religious or anything, but he felt a duty towards that blonde boy to do what he did.

It was only fair. He was repaying the debt that he owed the blonde boy with the mysterious blue gaze. Sasuke was always one to repay his debts. He never let himself get too far over the end, especially with all the money that he had, and so he was protected financially. However, his sense of duty did not allow him to go too far over the end when dealing with people that actually _meant_ something to him.

Unfortunately, very few people these days meant anything to Sasuke. In fact, after what had happened to that blonde boy in the picture, Sasuke had closed himself off from the world, deeming it an evil place that he wanted no part of. Yet here he was, with another blonde, in almost the same situation.

He had the chance to save Naruto's life – his innocence, or what was left of it. He had the chance to help another person who needed it. But Sasuke wasn't sure if he wanted to. Did he want to let another person inside his barrier? What would happen if Soukyuu disobeyed him and ran off? What if Soukyuu was just using Sasuke? There were so many questions that shot through the Uchiha's brain – and not all of them in the least bit rational.

He didn't know the answers to any of them, though. Did he truly want to bring another unfortunate under his roof? Did he want to go through that process all over again?

It was true that this blonde in front of him intrigued the brunette but did it call for such desperate measures as taking the boy in would incur?

"That is none of your business, Soukyuu," Sasuke spat out at last. His reply was harsher than he had intended it to be, and he accidentally scared the poor blonde so the boy went into a huddled form behind the nearest piece of furniture. An old dusty chair covered most of the blonde from view from almost any angle, but with the way the chairs were situated, Sasuke still had an almost clear view of the blonde. The boy was curled up, hands wrapped around his knees, shaking slightly.

Slowly, eyes narrowing dangerously, the Uchiha stood up. He walked slowly over to where Naruto was. The boy was muttering something that Sasuke could not make out from where he was. As he drew nearer, he realized what was being whimpered.

"I'm sorry, Master, please… please be merciful on Soukyuu," was the mantra that the blonde whore had trapped himself in.

Sasuke found this behavior most intriguing. He was a frequent buyer of one-night rentals at Gatou's Auction House and he found that many of the slaves were trained to be stoic in all situations. This was good. The slaves were excellent at giving their masters pleasure and fulfilling every wish that the master bid them. Sasuke had never seen a reaction like this when he accidentally lost his temper. He found that it happened a lot when a lot of things were circulating his brain. Most slaves would just bow their heads, but stay where they were.

Why did Naruto go through all the trouble of hiding behind something? It wasn't as though Sasuke was going to attack the boy. He had told Naruto that and yet the boy did not believe him.

_What could have happened to this one to make his reactions so unpredictable?_ Sasuke wondered. Another voice, besides his own, came to him from a memory of earlier in the week. Neji was now speaking to him, repeating the information that Sasuke had been told before he had even bothered to approach Soukyuu.

_Soukyuu__ has a problem with a former master of his, who abused him and still comes with one-night rentals of the boy. _

_I'm asking that you think about Soukyuu. Get him for one night and see how you like him… if you like him, and the price is right, then please, do purchase him. I trust you more than his former master._

_You are the only customer of Gatou's that I would trust with Soukyuu._

The Hyuuga that had confronted Sasuke about Naruto never ceased to confuse the Uchiha. Neji could be cold one moment, yet pleading the next. Each action was done with careful precision and with the right amount of etiquette and emotion. It was a hard thing to do, and usually only those who were born into rich families knew of that tradition in speaking anymore. Most other families didn't even know that there was a game to speaking.

Sasuke didn't know if he wanted to comfort Naruto. He was still reluctant to get close to the blonde and as long as he was hesitant, he didn't want to interact on anything but a physical level with the blonde.

_Isn't it a bit too late for that?_ a sly little voice in Sasuke's head asked.

Having read several hundred novels in which the main character had heard some voice in his head, ended up listening to it and bringing all disaster upon mankind, Sasuke ignored the little voice.

After all, it wasn't as though he was a hero in a fictional story. He was real – flesh and blood.

Naruto gave a small whimper, diverting the brunette from his musings. The blonde's eyes were squeezed shut and he couldn't stop shaking. No matter where he tried to hug himself for protection, he always managed to grip a bruise or a cut, only making him hiss in pain.

"Soukyuu?" Sasuke asked, wanting to know if the boy was stable in the mind or not. If he wasn't, then no matter if the leader of Japan asked him to take Naruto in – Sasuke would refuse.

Hearing his name being called, the slave snapped out of his reverie. When he noticed the distant look in Sasuke's eyes, he immediately realized what had happened. He had zoned out again, that or gone into one of his fear moods. Bowing low, so that his forehead touched the ground, Naruto murmured, "Please forgive me for the inconvenience, Uchiha-sama."

Sasuke nodded, patting the soft golden locks.

"Do not bow so low that getting up would damage your back," Sasuke ordered.

Immediately, Naruto sat back up. "I'm very sorry, Uchiha-sama."

Sasuke, who wasn't really fond of being referred to as a 'sama' or even as 'Uchiha', turned to the whore. "Call me Sasuke, Soukyuu."

"Okay, Sasuke-sama."

"You can drop the 'sama', Soukyuu."

"I'm sorry, Sasuke-sama, but I'm afraid that I cannot comply with that order," Naruto replied.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. He only managed out one syllable, which seemed to encompass all he wanted to ask into that single sound. "Oh?"

"Yes. Gatou-sama is very strict on the levels of respect. All slaves must call their masters by 'sama' or else they face punishment."

Sasuke nodded. He hadn't expected that, but now that he thought about it, it wouldn't seem all that unusual, given the situation.

Suddenly, Naruto spotted the photograph on the wall. Standing up, he went over to the picture. Seeing the two boys, one of which was obviously Sasuke, standing there laughing, interested the whore. He had never known what it was like to truly laugh. His life was at Gatou's Auction House. Before that, it was hell.

Naruto had grown up with his uncle, who was not the best person to be raising children. (Of course, more of this subject will be discussed later. Now back to the original point.)

"Sasuke-sama?" Naruto asked, looking at the photograph with a distant look on his face.

"Hmm?"

"Who is this person?" Naruto asked, pointing to the blonde haired, blue-eyed boy in the picture.

Sasuke sighed. He wished he could remember the boy's name from back then, but he couldn't. The face he knew by heart. He could even hear the boy's voice once in a while.

But the name was a mystery to him. For the life of him, Sasuke could not remember the boy's name.

"I do not know," Sasuke replied. He reached above Naruto, taking the picture down off the hook that balanced it on the wall. "I don't remember his name. All I remember is him."

Naruto was confused. How could he hang that picture in his personal pantry and not know who the subjects were. Especially if Sasuke himself was in the picture. It made no sense to the slave, but he supposed that it wasn't his business anyway and that if Sasuke liked to hang it in his own house, it was his choice.

Sasuke looked at Naruto again. He was leaning more and more towards actually buying the blonde, but Sasuke wondered if he should do it solely out of the kindness of his heart or whether he should take it with a few extra strings attached. After all, if he was going to put over a thousand dollars (considering the boy's status, he might reach nearly ten thousand) into purchasing the blonde, he _should_ be getting something out of it. However, he knew that Naruto was number two on the list of slaves, but that didn't mean that he would _like_ him in bed or not.

"Soukyuu," he said in a stern voice. The blonde turned toward him, azure eyes questioning.

"Yes, Sasuke-sama?" the blonde boy asked.

Sasuke, with a small smirk on his lips closed the two meters distance between them. Before Naruto could register what was happening, Sasuke had latched onto his wrist and began leading him elsewhere. Luckily, they didn't encounter any servants or people in general as they made their way to a room in the mansion.

Opening the large doors, Sasuke pulled Naruto into the bedroom that lay behind those doors. Naruto's eyes widened for a moment before he understood what was about to happen and the emotions in those eyes disappeared, becoming a cool, blank wall.

Sasuke's lips descended on Naruto's. He was kissing the blonde furiously, pushing the naked boy back towards the bed. Even while he was engrossed with exploring Naruto's mouth, Sasuke somehow managed to get his clothes off as well. His hands wandered the body of the blonde, feeling each muscle, each scar, and each curve that existed. He had to admit in the back of his mind that he liked this feeling. The boy's body was nearly perfect, which was probably why his rank was so high among all of the slaves at Gatou's Auction House.

Losing their balance as the neared the bed, the two fell onto the comforter in a tangle of limbs, not ceasing their activities in the least. Sasuke was obviously the dominant one, as Naruto was trained to be the uke of any sexual scenario.

The sex itself wasn't that long, but Sasuke accepted it. He was thoroughly interested in the blonde who slept softly beside him. He didn't even know why. Naruto just had that air about him that Sasuke was drawn to.

_That could be dangerous_, Sasuke thought to himself, as he lightly stroked the golden bangs on the boy's forehead. _Should I really let someone else inside of my walls – especially if he turns out to be just another whore?_

--

_I lay strewn across the floor, can't solve this puzzle  
__Everyday another small piece can't be found  
__I lay strewn across the floor, pieced up in sorrow  
__Pieced together incomplete and empty  
__This is my line, this is eternal  
__How did I ever end up here?  
__Discarnate, preternatural  
__My prayers to disappear  
__Absent of grace, marked as infernal  
__Ungranted__ in dead time left me disowned  
__To this nature, so unnatural  
__I remain alone_

_AFI, …But Home Is Nowhere_

_

* * *

__Kyuubi-kun's Korner!_

_All right folks, I'll leave you there. Hopefully the next update will be soon! Special thanks to my… ever-preoccupied Chibi-sempai for all the trouble I put you through after writing the first draft of this chapter. I know I can be annoying at time, and I know I delayed your reading of Chapter 52 of Death Note, but you have to admit, it was worth it… right? _

_((dead silence. Even the crickets went away))_

_Fine, don't admit it! RAWR! Just kidding. Love everyone who reviews cuz I'm a review whore. Ciao!_


	5. Fate

_Usually I write during class periods, but all my free classes are going to doing projects. I'm about to fall over, yay, right? Anyways, I have this chapter out for all of you that I love so dearly because I'm insanely bored, insanely tired and don't feel like going to bed just yet._

_Thank you everyone for supporting this fic, ya-da-ya-da-ya-da_

**Pain's Stoic Pleasures  
****Chapter Four: Fate**

Despite the night that they spent together, Naruto soon found himself back at the Auction House, sitting in the corner of his cell, unable to do anything. It wasn't that he was unable – it was more the fact that the cells were given the bare minimum for someone to survive in. There was no television, nothing to tell Naruto what was happening outside of this little room.

It was furnished very sparsely. A bed stood in one corner, there was a sofa, and a few snacks – but the snacks were refilled only once a week so the slaves learned to save and eat when they needed to, rather than when they wanted to.

Gatou had always imposed strict rules on his slaves. Most of them were wards of the state before Gatou bought them, Naruto included. Naruto recognized several of the people he had passed in his younger years before being adopted by his current guardian. Most of them showed up to the part of the Auction House where he was on display.

Naruto really didn't have any dreams, as he lay there on the squeaky bed. He just… existed. He had no likes or dislikes, in accordance with hobbies, because he had never had the chance to try them. He had nothing that kept him alive except for Neji-sama and sometimes he wondered if even that was a lie.

He turned over on his side, tears prickling in his eyes. He hated his life. Every day was pretty much just a repeat of the day before and Naruto wondered if any of it mattered. He was sixteen years old and yet he lived in what could only be described as a cell.

Those were the basic thoughts of Uzumaki Naruto during the long days of the week when Gatou's Auction House was a respectable place.

Naruto bit his lip, wondering if there was anything in the room he could use to off himself – he hated being here. He just wanted to die… to leave this horrible place. There was a knock on his door.

Naruto rose, waiting for the key to click. He couldn't get out of his room – he was stuck here. The only time that he saw the outside world was when he was bought. There had been several times in which Naruto had tried to commit suicide. The most recent attempt had happened about a month ago. When his buyer led him outside, Naruto yanked the leash from the man's grip and fled in the opposite direction. He ran across a glass bottle in an alleyway, which he had smashed. While threatening his buyer with the broken half of the bottle in his hand, Naruto grabbed a piece of the glass and cut deep gashes on his arm. The scars still remained where they had been since that day. He would never forget the punishment he had received for that stunt.

_"You should know better than to do that, Naruto," Gatou's voice emitted from the shadows. Naruto flinched. He was chained to a table, leather cuffs attached to the table wrapped around his wrists and ankles. He couldn't move at all. A bright light above him was the only light in the dank room. _

_Naruto didn't respond to anything that his guardian said. He knew that it would probably be worse for him if he did. Therefore he didn't even whisper an apology. _

_"Now, Naruto, you must realize that this is the third time you've escaped from your buyer, don't you?" came the voice again. _

_Naruto nodded, knowing that he had to respond when asked a question. _

_Gatou signaled someone in the shadows to come out. A man that Naruto didn't recognize came out, wheeling a medical cart. He took a needle off the cart and filled it with a clear substance from a bottle. Squirting the needle to make sure the syringe worked, Naruto realized then what was happening. He began to struggle like mad, trying to get away. _

_"Moving will only make it more painful for you, Naruto."_

_This didn't stop the blonde from anything though. He still struggled. He could deal with getting raped every weekend, but he hated when Gatou used the slaves to test drugs and such before putting them out on the market. He, himself, had only been used in these experiments once or twice before but that didn't mean he liked it. Most of the stuff that was put into his system was pure, so the effects were much higher than if it had been diluted by something. _

_He felt the prick of pain that signaled to him that the needle had slid into his skin at the moment. There was another flash of pain as the contents were poured into him. He felt his body still as his mind blacked out._

Naruto sighed, gripping the scar on his arm from the drug intake. He didn't know what had been given to him, but he didn't care to dwell on it. If he was too spacey around here, the same thing could happen again.

Startling himself back to the present, however, Naruto jumped up. The blonde kneeled, head bowed and legs spread. His hands were folded behind his head. This was a completely submissive position that Gatou had told all the slaves to take whenever he was around and not directing them to do something.

"Neji-kun," Gatou was saying and Naruto was just basically tuning him out. He didn't care why Gatou was here – he just wished the man would leave him to his peaceful time when he didn't have to service anyone.

"Yes, Gatou-san?" Neji asked, his soft voice calming Naruto slightly. The Hyuuga had always done that to the slave boy.

"Clean Soukyuu up, make sure he is ready for a client," Gatou instructed the groom.

Neji was confused. It wasn't a weekend. Slaves were given the week off in order to be proficiently rested before going to please whoever had bought them.

"Client, sir?" Neji wanted to know. This was the first time he had heard of a slave being scheduled to work during the week, especially if they were one-night rentals only, like Naruto was.

"Yes, one of our patrons has made a very large donation to the Auction House and in return, I gave him the choice of a day and a night with one slave of his choice. He chose Soukyuu."

Neji nodded in response as the owner left. The door swung shut behind him.

"It's alright, Soukyuu, you don't have to stay like that," Neji informed him.

Naruto brought his hands down and settled himself, cross-legged in front of Neji.

"Who do you think it might be, Neji-sama?" Naruto asked, looking up at his caretaker.

Neji shrugged. "I really don't know, Soukyuu," the boy said.

"Naruto," the Uzumaki murmured.

Neji stopped gathering the bath things from where they were. It was in locked cabinets. "Huh?" he asked as he came over to Naruto and brought the boy into the bathroom that was connected to the room.

He let the water run, taking off his long-sleeved shirt in order to clean Naruto better this way.

"I said my name…" Naruto murmured. It was not something that he had ever done before. Nobody but Gatou knew his name – and Gatou used to call him by it, but over the training years, Naruto found that his name was used less and less.

He missed being called by something other than "Soukyuu." The name was flattering, but as much as it was him, it wasn't _him_. It was hard to explain how he felt about his names, as he truly didn't know to begin with.

"You mean 'Soukyuu'?" Neji prodded, not sure what Naruto was getting at.

"No… my real name…" Naruto responded, not meeting Neji's eye. "Uzumaki Naruto. Call me Naruto." He paused here, finally resolving the issue of his names in his head. "I hate the name Soukyuu."

"But it suits you – your eyes, at least," Neji told him, turning the water off. "Get in." Naruto obeyed.

"I know it suits my eyes," Naruto grumbled while Neji gently lathered soap against his skin. "But… Soukyuu's just a whore… I don't want to be a whore, Neji-sama."

Neji sighed. _I don't want you to be one either, Souk- no, his name is Naruto. _

"I know," was all Neji was able to say as he finished washing the boy.

* * *

Naruto was soon done. His skin was clean, his hair shining, and his eyes blank. He was waiting, with Neji, for the client to appear. Both were anxious to find out who it was that had rented out Naruto at such an odd time. They heard the distant sound of voices outside the door, but words were too muffled to be picked up. Neji held his breath as he heard the key inserted into the lock. Naruto bit his lip to try and keep his anxiety in check.

The door opened and Gatou entered. To Neji's dismay and Naruto's horror, Orochimaru was the man that entered closely behind him.

_Goddammit__, Uchiha_, Neji thought before he saw the signal from Gatou to leave. Giving Naruto a look of sympathy, the Hyuuga left with Gatou following closely behind. Neji was disappointed in the Uchiha for several reasons. He knew that it was a long shot for Sasuke to actually purchase Naruto, but he thought that Naruto would interest Sasuke. It seemed as though he were mistaken, though, which made him shake his head as he left.

Back in the room, Naruto stared up at Orochimaru's lithe form, the white skin and dark tresses so familiar to him, but so vulgar. Those yellow, catlike eyes were what really scared Naruto. Those eyes hurt Naruto. He knew he was shaking slightly, but he didn't care at the moment. All he cared about right now was surviving the next twenty-four hours.

Orochimaru advanced towards the boy, and gave his purchase a sly smile that sent shivers down the boy's spine. That smile spoke thousands of things to the boy. Things that promised that he would wish he were dead by the time this session was up.

"Soukyuu," he sneered at the boy. "How nice it is to see you again." He stroked the scars that marred Naruto's face. "You know, if you had been a good boy, I wouldn't have had to do that to you," the pallid man told him. Naruto winced at the memory, biting his lip harder. "But you always did things that got you into trouble, didn't you?"

Naruto couldn't contain himself any longer, fear or no – he hated when he was spoken to like this, by _him_ of all people. However, Naruto also knew that he couldn't fight back too much. Still, he couldn't stop himself from murmuring, in a fearful tone, "Who in their right minds…" The blonde hesitated here. "… would want to be r-raped without a… a fight?"

The blow came faster than Naruto could anticipate it. Orochimaru's hand punched the boy in the stomach. Doubling over from the pain of the blow, Naruto's nose came in contact with Orochimaru's knee when the latter jerked his knee up. Blood spilled from the nose, though Naruto could feel that it wasn't broken… just bloody.

Naruto was pushed to the floor, Orochimaru's hand around his neck. The man increased pressure slowly. Naruto choked, unable to do anything. Blood was still pouring slowly from his nose and his ribs hurt, but these were minor injuries compared with some of the other things that had happened with Orochimaru.

"I should kill you right here, boy, for being so disrespectful," Orochimaru growled. Naruto shuddered, feeling the man straddle his waist. God, he felt so disgusting.

Naruto felt as though he were at the end of the line, as though he had forgotten everything that he had earlier listed off to left to live for.

He wanted to die. He didn't care who did it. Sasuke… Sasuke had been just another unachievable dream, or so it seemed. Looking up at Orochimaru, Naruto's eyes were cold and blank and his voice was lifeless as he said, "Then kill me. If you want to, kill me."

Orochimaru smirked. "Didn't I tell you something many years ago, Soukyuu?" the pallid man asked.

The blonde sighed. He knew what this was about – and he had had this discussion with the man on top of him several times.

"What?" the blonde asked, humoring the other.

Orochimaru glared, punching the boy sharply in the eye. Naruto felt lights go out in his head as his cranium connected with the surface of the floor. He tried to clear his vision, but it was hard.

"You refer to me as _Master_, you ungrateful whore," the man snarled.

Naruto opened his mouth to reply, when Orochimaru's mouth descended on his. Years ago, the boy had struggled and tried to get out of this man's grasp. Nowadays, he just sighed inwardly, not doing anything.

The other pulled. "If you do not cooperate with me and participate today, I did bring all of my… toys with me, and I'm not reluctant to use them at all."

Naruto's eyes widened. _Fuck you, you fucking bastard!_ His mind screamed but his body reacted differently. His body had experienced this pain long enough to know that he was at the end of the point where he could talk back to Orochimaru. Now was the time to play the part of the whore.

Naruto still held onto the fleeting hope that one day, the pallid man would stop being the monster that he always was and wouldn't follow through with his threats. Unfortunately, Naruto had yet to see that day appear.

* * *

After leaving Naruto with Orochimaru, albeit reluctantly, Neji just wandered through one of the parks nearby. It was one of his favorite places. He liked taking walks here late at night because there was nobody there. However, it was a little after noon at the moment, and so people were milling around the place. After receiving a call on his cellphone from Gatou during his lunch, Neji had left school, in order to do his job.

He didn't feel like going back, even though he knew that he had to. There was still twenty minutes left until study hall – which he had after lunch – ended. Slowly, with a heavy sigh, he began to walk back to his school, knowing very well that he was leaving Naruto in the hands of the devil himself.

A little voice in the back of his head suggested that if he saw Uchiha in the hallways, to have a word with the stoic underclassman, if only to learn why Sasuke _hadn't_ bought Naruto, not to plead more on the blonde's case.

He sighed, readjusting the position of his bookbag, and sullenly went back to the halls of learning that he had come from. He knew that Naruto needed help. For once, Neji was not going to leave this up to fate. He was going to find and confront the Uchiha, even if he had to pull the other boy out of class to do it!

_

* * *

Do you wanna be somebody else?  
__Are you sick of feeling so left out?  
__Are you desperate to find something more  
__Before your life is over  
__Are you stuck inside a world you hate?  
__Are you sick of everyone around?  
__With their big fake smiles and stupid lies  
__While deep inside you're bleeding  
__No you don't know what it's like  
__When nothing feels alright  
__You don't know what it's like to be like me  
__To be hurt  
__To feel lost  
__To be left out in the dark  
__To be kicked  
__When you're down  
__To feel like you've been pushed around  
__To be on the edge of breaking down  
__And no one's there to save you  
__No you don't know what it's like  
__Welcome to my life_

_Simple Plan, Welcome to My Life_

_

* * *

Kyuubi-kun's Korner!_

_Yeah… that's this installment. I hope I managed a little bit of insight on the Orochimaru/Naruto relationship and what have you. However… I'm not entirely sure if I did… ((shrugs)) oh well… _

_Thanks once again to Chibi-senpai for reading and making comments on this (and corrections) with all good humor. And yes, Chibi-senpai, my dashies are one of my gods. Mwa haa haa_


	6. In My Mind

_Hi everyone, here's Chapter Five, written out for you in one night, well, not actually. But it was typed up in one night, written over the span of half a week, in all honesty. And that was only because I lost my notebook that had the first three or four pages in it somewhere. And then I found it – so I'm happy. _

_Oh yeah, this chapter does have shit like S&M, um… a little bit of oral, mentions of BSDM and such, so basically, this chapter is rated R. I'm not going to be too descriptive in this chapter, but I'll be better than I was in the last chapters. All right, thanks to everyone who supports this and for those who don't – why are you this far through the story?_

_Tch, morons.__ Enjoy!_

**Pain's Stoic Pleasures  
****Chapter Five: In My Head**

Neji saw Sasuke a little bit after school of the very same day that Naruto had been left with Orochimaru. Even though the boy was surrounded by popular girls – though we refer to them only as fangirls – like Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura, it was clear to see that he was not enjoying it in the least. The Hyuuga boy was glad that his younger cousin, Hinata, was uninteresting in Uchiha even though they were in the same class. The dark-haired boy walked over to his underclassman.

"Uchiha-san," Neji called out. Sasuke looked up, his face as emotionless as ever. "I must speak with you." He cast a disgusted look at the hoards of fangirls. "Alone."

The girls, knowing not to go against Hyuuga-senpai, as they called him, left sorrowfully. Neji and Sasuke began walking away from the school.

When neither Sasuke nor Neji could sense anyone following them, as both knew that they had stalkers, they slowed their pass. Presently, they found themselves at a small, yet ornate, fountain on the edge of the school's extensive grounds.

"What do you want, Hyuuga?" Sasuke asked coldly. As much as he was happy that Neji had rescued him from his fangirls, he was still not the friendliest person to have a conversation with.

Neji was silent for a moment, preferring to stay in the confines of his thoughts for just a little bit longer. He wasn't entirely sure what to say. Besides, he was trying to digest all of the information that he had found out.

Since one of his teachers had been absent, Neji had searched for "Uzumaki Naruto" on the internet. Something was bothering him about that kid. The name was familiar but Neji couldn't place it.

The internet had given him a few old newspaper articles concerning the Uzumaki family. Naruto's father, Uzumaki Arashi, had owned a large and prestigious scientific laboratory. Arashi had started it with his wife, Shouko. They had lived well for several years until a little after Naruto was born. Only a few days after his second birthday, Naruto's parents had been brutally slaughtered. Naruto was left unscratched while the killer was never found.

"Hyuuga," Sasuke growled, breaking Neji from his reverie. Neji turned to the boy. Before the upperclassman had a chance to speak, the other boy continued. "Is this about Soukyuu?"

Neji nodded. "Uchiha, Soukyuu deserves to be bought. Do you not realize this?"

Sasuke just kept staring at Neji with his obsidian gaze. "I understand that but I don't believe I am the right person to do something like that."

Neji just shook his head. "Soukyuu needs to be removed from where he is right now."

"Then you do it! I can't!"

"Why not?" Neji persisted. "Did he not satisfy you?"

Sasuke scowled. "That's not the issue here."

"Yes it _is_," Neji yelled, unable to control himself. "Soukyuu is in danger this very minute. He's with his former master. Knowing Soukyuu, he'll be a little… impertinent. The boy doesn't know when to shut up, especially not when talking to or about his former master. He fights until he has to be held down." Neji shot a look at Sasuke, which he wasn't quite able to catch. "You saw that, didn't you?"

Sasuke could feel some of his defenses crack ever so slightly. There were no real reasons why he had not bought Naruto. He had thought about it. Well, he had actually thought too much about I, and was thus reminded of a face from his past. A face he wishes he could forget. He didn't have anything against the blonde except for the face. That was the only reason he hadn't bought Naruto.

Naruto looked too much like the person Sasuke had destroyed. After all, there was a reason why Sasuke had blocked out that part of his life. All that was left of that time period was an old photograph hanging on his pantry wall.

"Besides," Neji was saying. "I've watched you since you rented Soukyuu. You can't forget about him, can you?"

Sasuke froze, unsure of how to proceed now that Neji had see how he had been acting lately. Normally, Sasuke was distant. Nowadays, the boy was nearly unreachable.

It was almost as though Sasuke was a lost star, trying not to be seen through the eyes of the thousands of telescopes that stared. Below, there were thousands of telescopes staring out of the windows of thousands of houses. The telescopes were looked into by millions of children and adults alike.

"Dammit, Hyuuga!" Sasuke snarled. "I… I can't buy him. He'll just disappear if I buy him. I wouldn't keep him locked up, so he would just take my fortune and leave. I'm not going to risk that!" Sasuke didn't tell Neji the real reason, but it wasn't a lie that he had spewed out one of his anxieties about purchasing slaves.

Neji just stared at Sasuke for a moment. "Then you really are an idiot for thinking that way," he scoffed.

Sasuke aware that he was being called an idiot, smouldered where he was. He glared at his companion.

Neji just stood where he was calmly. He didn't seem to notice the Uchiha's rage. He countered Sasuke's simmering gaze with he pale eyes. He then smirked and answered the unasked question. "You believe that a kid who hasn't owned a set of clothes since he was five is going to steal your money. He's unpaid and has never been given anymore than the bare minimum. You honestly believe that _he_ will take your cash?"

Sasuke turned away from the accusing eyes, his cheeks colored slightly from shame. However, the inside of his mind was turning.

Naruto had to be about his own age, if not a little younger. Judging the blonde to be sixteen, a year younger than himself, then that would be…

Sasuke paled. Did that mean that Naruto had been employed at Gatou's since about the time the mysterious boy from the photograph entered Sasuke's life? Eleven years… eleven long years…

That was… insane.

That was wrong!

Sasuke was unsure of as what to do now. Part of him wanted to kill that slug, Gatou. Another part wanted to stay as neutral as possible. A third part was leaning towards finding Naruto to see if this was true. And still, a fourth part, his conscious mind, was just completely confused.

The face of Naruto, mixed with the boy from the photograph, whirled around in his head. Faster and faster they spun, becoming one ever speeding blur of blue and gold.

Did this mean Sasuke cared for another human being? After what his brother had done? After all his parents had said? Was Uchiha Sasuke finally growing a heart?

But why would such a thing be given to him? What was he supposed to do with it? Thousands of questions revolved in his mind. Each and every answer was clear. Everything seemed to point to Soukyuu – somehow.

_Why are my thoughts full of that whore?_ Sasuke asked himself. Unfortunately, that was the only question that he had trouble answering.

Neji stared at the boy. He didn't know what was going through the Uchiha's mind. He didn't even think he wanted to know, judging by the tirade of emotions that flashed through the other's eyes.

"Listen, Uchiha, would seeing him again help you in any way?" Neji wanted to know.

Sasuke looked at him, eyes wide. Was it possible? Could he really see Naruto again…? Wait! Did Neji mean with the auction and all? Sasuke had a paid a good sum for Naruto, but that sun didn't come by even _him_ very often – at least not in the way that he would spend it once a week. His astounded look turned quickly to one of suspicion.

"Just how much pocket money do you think I _have_?" he snapped.

Neji just sighed and shook his head. "I'm not asking you to pay anything. Knowing Soukyuu, he will be injured tomorrow. The client will leave at noon. After school, I have to go by and clean up Soukyuu. I was wondering if you would like to come along – though you'll have to disguise yourself as a groom."

Sasuke sighed, finally realizing the question he really wanted to voice. "Why are you so adamant on me taking that whore?" Sauske wanted to know.

Neji smiled sadly, trailing his fingers in the water of the fountain they were sitting by.

"There are reasons," he whispered as he moved his head over his reflection. "However, in short, call it Fate."

Sasuke stared at him, trying to figure out if he should call the Hyuuga boy insane or not. Considering it rude, Sasuke managed to keep his mouth shut. "Look, Hyuuga," he said, trying to keep a rein on his frustration. The upperclassman just wasn't listening to him. "I don't think I'm right for what you're asking, dammit!" He glared at the boy, trying to calm his longing to see Soukyuu.

The whore was like a type of drug, and Sasuke didn't want to become addicted. Sasuke's eyes hardened at the thought. He squared his shoulders, knowing that he should listen to his head right now. He didn't think it was a good idea to listen to his newly beating heart. He didn't trust things he didn't know and these – emotions were some of them.

"Uchiha," Neji said, his voice flat and steady. The other boy couldn't pick up on the frustration that Neji himself was keeping at bay. He didn't want to hurt the Uchiha – that wouldn't be very good. "It may be just because you've only met Soukyuu once, but you don't how much Soukyuu is dying."

Sasuke's head snapped up, though his face was still a grim mask. His eyes asked the question that his mouth refused to.

Neji sighed once more. "'Dying from within' would be a better metaphor," Neji murmured, looking up at the Uchiha again. "Every time that his former master takes him, he loses a bit of himself. There isn't much left that's truly Soukyuu – truly who he is. All of has been destroyed."

At these words a memory – a voice was triggered in Sasuke's mind. He could hear the mournful tone of the whore in question saying something similar to what Neji was saying now.

_Why do you purchase slaves? What purpose do we serve others? By… buying us… by… making bids and using us… don't you people realize how much you're destroying us?_

When Sasuke returned to his senses, all he found was a note, left by Neji. The Hyuuga, however, had disappeared.

Sasuke looked down at the note.

_Uchiha Sasuke-_

_Meet me here tomorrow after school. Wear no clothing that identifies you as an Uchiha. _

_-Hyuuga Neji_

The Uchiha shook his head, sighing to himself as he made his way home. Curiosity would make Sasuke return to the fountain the next day.

--

Orochimaru leaned over his captive. Naruto was bound to the bed. Around his mouth and head was a strip of cloth that served as a gag. Orochimaru had shoved a vibrator into Naruto's entrance, digging it deeply into the boy. Naruto hated the feeling, but his body responded to it, steadily growing hard. His mind was foggy, which he knew was probably because of the drug Orochimaru had forced down his throat. He felt hot, and his mind faintly told him that it was probably some type of aphrodisiac.

"Just for a little bit longer," Orochimaru crooned, wiping Naruto's hair out of his eye. Naruto inwardly shuddered at the touch. He let out a low moan, unable to control the heightened senses that the aphrodisiac brought. Orochimaru smirked when he heard this.

"You'll be set free soon, Soukyuu," the pallid man sneered. Naruto could feel heat flow through him.

It seemed like an eternity before Naruto's gag was removed. "Now, Soukyuu," the snake-like adult purred. "What is it you call me?"

"M-master," Naruto breathed.

"Good," Orochimaru replied. "Now, my pet, ask nicely."

Naruto chewed his lip for a moment, but the sensation was unbearable at the moment, having him pant softly. "P-please… mas-master," he let out in a half-groan.

Orochimaru grinned at the lack of defiance from the whore. "Good boy, good boy," he said in the voice of one talking to a favorite pet.

"I'll take it out now," Orochimaru murmured. Reaching over, he turned off the vibrator, extracting it from Naruto.

Naruto barely suppressed a sigh of relief as his master took the contraption out of him.

--

The next afternoon saw Sasuke, dressed in a brown wig that Neji had supplied, being dragged over to Gatou's Auction House in order to see Soukyuu one more time. Neji was currently dragging Sasuke through the twisting corridors that guests never saw – mainly because they weren't part of the display cases.

Neji grabbed keys from a hook by a door, which Sasuke noticed to be metal, colored slate gray. The Hyuuga inserted a silver key into the lock on the door, pocketing the key right afterwards. He grasped the doorknob and opened the door.

It was dark in the room. There was a soft sobbing sound in the room. Stone-faced, Neji reached to his right, flicking on the switch that he knew was there. Light flickered on from the fluorescent lights in the ceiling, casting view over Naruto's room.

There were several things destroyed, Neji noted. It was the first time that Naruto had had to service someone in _here_, so he wasn't sure in what state of mind that he would find the boy.

His eyes quickly scanned around the room, finally falling on a huddled form in the corner. Quickly, he made his way over to the corner.

Naruto didn't say a word, even when Neji shook his shoulder. The boy just continued to sob softly, arms wrapped around himself for what Neji could only guess to be some kind of protection.

Seeing Naruto broken and quiet unnerved Neji. He never realized that Orochimaru was capable of doing _this_ to Soukyuu – no matter what he told Sasuke. Soukyuu was infamous for being obnoxiously loud.

Currently, Naruto was curled as far into the corner as he could go. Tears cascaded down his face. His body was covered in bruises, blood, and Neji could even spot some burns as well. Orochimaru had always left the blonde alive. That was Gatou's only rule. Aside from that, the buyers could do what they wished.

Sasuke entered the room behind Neji. There wasn't much on his face as a reaction to the softly sobbing Naruto. In his mind, however, he felt a bit of sympathy towards the blonde. He stamped that feeling out. Sasuke knew that feelings meant weaknesses. He had shown that weakness before and he was not going to show it again.

"Soukyuu," he whispered without realizing what he was saying. His voice was low, full of disbelief that he knew subconsciously that no one had heard him.

Neji sighed as he looked at his charge. Naruto was seriously messed up right now. _What the hell did Orochimaru do to him?_ Neji wanted to know. However, he knew that he probably could make little to no sense of Naruto at the moment.

"Soukyuu," he tried to get the boy's attention with his name. Naruto looked at him through sullen blue eyes. One eye was swollen and there was a slight cut there, blood trickling down his eyelid. His lips were bruised as well. "Soukyuu, what the hell happened?"

"Master punished me, because I didn't want to…" the boy whispered. Fresh tears began to spill down his cheeks. "I didn't d-do anything wrong… I j-just didn't want to… to be part of… of him. I d-didn't know that he would… would g-get this angry… I d-didn't know…"

Naruto hid his head again, biting his bruised lip hard, trying to calm himself down. However, Orochimaru was harsher over the past day than he normally was on weekends. Weekends were uncomfortable with the man, but they didn't hurt this much.

Neji was assessing the damage with his eyes while Naruto's mind was reeling around in a tormented cycle.

"I've been looking after Soukyuu for these past two years," Neji murmured softly, turning to Sasuke. Sasuke looked at him, eyes burning with what looked something like a cross between determination and malice.

"What?" Sasuke asked, having not caught what Neji was saying as he, like Naruto, was too wrapped up in his own thoughts, and so Neji continued with what he had been saying beforehand.

"I've been with Soukyuu for two years, in which I've had to care for him, wash him, listen to him, and heal his wounds," Neji explained slowly to Sasuke. He sighed, casting a glance back at Naruto, who was now bobbing his head up and down, as though he were giving someone a blow job or something of the like.

"I've never seen him this bad before," Neji whispered. "I thought I had seen bad – when he would scream and not allowed to be touched by anyone for days, or when he had refused to be a whore and ran away from three buyers – nearly killing himself with a piece of glass in an alleyway after the third." He sighed, trying to keep calm and not storm after Orochimaru and rip him to shreds.

Neji had always admired Naruto for being strong… but it seemed as though that strength had broken. Sasuke just stood there in silent contemplation.

--

Orochimaru arrived back at his mansion home, the same place that Naruto had lived in for four years. He entered the door that was being held open by a butler. Orochimaru, because of his business was insanely rich. He went up to his study, sitting in a chair and calling for his servant to bring tea.

The nineteen-year-old servant entered. He had bleached blonde hair that was pulled back into a ponytail and a sharp face. Orochimaru had always thought that if he ever felt like taking over the world, he would have this boy by his side. Kabuto, as was the boy's name, was smart, cruel and cunning. He surprised Orochimaru several times and the pallid man had even considered adopting the boy as his heir more than once.

Kabuto bowed after serving the tea to his master. "Orochimaru-sama, I trust all went well during the visit," the man asked.

Orochimaru glared at him for a moment, brushing his hair out of his face, revealing a few fingernail scratches that Naruto had made when he tried to resist the pallid man's advances. None of them were deep enough to be bleeding, except for the one on his cheek, but Orochimaru didn't care about them that much.

There was an insane and malicious glint to the snake-man's eye. "He was very disobedient tonight," the pallid man snickered. "More so than he has ever been before, and so he was duly punished for such a thing. But I could not do as much as I wished to."

"Sir?" Kabuto asked, knowing that now was the time that he should be confused. When dealing with that whore, Orochimaru sometimes sounded like a lunatic, so Kabuto was used to it already.

"I cannot _wait_ until I have Naruto in my possession once again," the man laughed at the idea, loving it more with each telling. "Then he shall be mine once again, tamed and dutifully cooperative with my every whim and command. The fun I could have with that delightful whore, just like old times."

Orochimaru lost himself in memories for a moment.

_"Soukyuu!"__ Orochimaru yelled out. The blonde boy, now ten, was still small and girlish-looking. He came rushing into the room, having been elsewhere. He knew whenever Orochimaru called him though. He always got a shiver down his spine when the man called out his name. He didn't know why, but he always obeyed that shiver and spurted off in the direction of the nearest room where he knew that Orochimaru liked to be. _

_The boy kneeled in front of Orochimaru, legs spread and hands folded behind his neck – the same pose that he did whenever Gatou was around. Naruto was too busy staring at the floor, so he was not aware that Orochimaru had pulled down his pants. _

_"Soukyuu," the man said again, this time in a soft, almost purring tone. The pallid man grew hard every time he saw the naked slave running about. Soukyuu was truly a magnificent creature, as small as his frame was, in Orochimaru's eyes. _

_Naruto looked up, his blue eyes wide as he wondered what he had been called for. Orochimaru's hard member, leaking with pre-cum was hanging erect in front of him. Naruto knew immediately what he was supposed to do. _

_Slowly, his lips surrounded the organ and he proceeded to do as bid._

"Kabuto," Orochimaru finally said, realizing that just by thinking about Naruto he grew half-hard. "It will be a fun day indeed when I am able to purchase Soukyuu once again for four years."

"What are you planning to do, Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto asked.

To this, Orochimaru merely laughed maniacally at. He was looking forward to that day, only three months away, when he would be able to purchase Soukyuu once more.

That would also be the day when he would teach Soukyuu the meaning of punishment.

--

Neji had pulled the dirty blankets off Naruto's bed, then washed the boy. All during this, Naruto was flinching every time Neji touched the boy. Neji felt like hugging Naruto, but he knew that Naruto would probably be traumatized for life, if he wasn't already.

Sasuke, on the other hand, helped Neji by putting clean sheets and blankets on the blonde's bed. As he looked around him, remembering the boy's words, he felt sorry for Naruto. Sasuke knew that he had no real reason to refuse to buy Naruto at all, but he still wasn't completely sure if he wanted to commit himself to be the person who helped the blonde.

Neji, finally finished with washing the blonde, began to wrap the wounds the boy had. He needed Sasuke's help during this. Usually, Naruto would help him, but the blonde was currently out of commission in that part.

After they were finished with that, all done in silence, Neji turned to Sasuke. He had been thinking about what he wanted to say to the Uchiha all during the time that he had been working.

"Uchiha," the Hyuuga said. Sasuke looked up, wondering what the boy was going to say now. Neji breathed deeply, calming his nerves so that he would make sense when he was speaking.

"I know you do not believe you are the right person to be able to help Soukyuu heal, but right now," Neji began. His voice was soft and strained, as though the boy was having trouble keeping his emotions in check. "Right now, I truly fear that if you do not buy him before October, the next time that you will be able to see Soukyuu is when he is six feet under."

Sasuke seemed startled. Would the former master of the blonde do this? No… it was in the contract that he couldn't. It was then that Sasuke remembered what Neji had said about Naruto trying to take his own life. He would commit suicide in order to escape the clutches of his former master.

The Hyuuga helped Naruto into bed and led Sasuke out of the boy's room, locking it behind them and hanging the key on the hook. Only when the two were outside of the Auction House did Neji resume the conversation that he had been having with the Uchiha before.

"Soukyuu, through all of this, still maintained an innocent air about him," Neji was telling the Uchiha as they were walking towards the coffee shop only a block from Gatou's Auction House. "Today… I fear that that soul of his – that innocence has been destroyed. He, out of everyone in the world, does not deserve this. He deserves to be saved from this cruel fate."

Sasuke stared at Neji, understanding what was being told to him, but not sure yet if he wanted to purchase Naruto.

Neji looked at Sasuke straight in the eye. "Think about what you have seen tonight and make your decision," Neji said. "As much as I would like to continue fighting on behalf of Soukyuu, this is the last time that I will ask your help to buy him. Whenever you are ready, come to me with your answer. If you wish, I can probably arrange it so that you can get a discount on whatever the auction ends up to be."

The long-haired boy spun heel without so much a "goodbye" and walked through the crowded street. Sasuke lost track of him in a second. Even though the street was full of people milling about, the Uchiha felt strangely alone.

--

_Yeah I'm having a hard time  
__I'm walking a fine line between hope and despair  
__You may think that I don't care  
__But I traveled a long road to get hold of my sorrow  
__I tried to catch a dream  
__But nothing's what it seems  
__Love is saying baby it's all right  
__When deep inside you're really petrified  
__Lover turns to hater  
__On this escalator_

_I can't live with you - yeah  
__But I can't live without you  
__I can't breathe if you stay  
__But I can't bear you to go away  
__I don't know what time it is  
__All I know is I can't live with you_

_Queen, I Can't Live With You_

_--_

_Kyuubi-kun's Korner!_

_Hao__! I actually finished this all in one night. Thank you a lot, once again, Chibi-senpai, and also to Ookima-han, who helped me when I got stuck on page six and now I'm on page nine, so yeah – its good she helped, or else this chapter wouldn't be out for ages upon ages, like normal for an author who's stuck. Anyways, I'm going to wrap this up because I am tired and yeah… very sleepy. _

_Don't forget to review!_

_Also, thank you to the band Queen for having this PERFECT song for this chapter.__ Originally I was going to use All Dead, All Dead by Queen, but then I saw this and I'm like… damn! And I looked at the lyrics and I was like… Double Damn! And then I added the lyrics in and started this rant. _

_Ciao!_


	7. Petals

_Hello everyone, I'm really happy about the responses I am receiving for this fic. It's great to know that people out there actually care about whether I continue or not. It's refreshing, you know? Anyways, I might as well answer the review questions and the reviews here, because I feel like doing it. _

_Review Responses from Kyuu-kun_

_Ookima: I'm glad that you liked this chapter. Pain and suffering… nice? I never thought of describing them in that particular sense. I mean, I like them, sadly enough, but nice? Nah… anyways, I'm glad that you liked that chapter and hopefully this one will be just as good. _

_Malita: lol, a hot punishment? I'm afraid I don't quite follow. Gruesome (not really, but I can pretend, can't I) or something of that nature, perhaps. But hot? Wait… is it in a sexy-hot, or just a hot-hot… cuz if it was a sexy hot, then that would be okay!_

_Gaarasama: Lol, but if Sasuke just bought him already, then I wouldn't get to write about him being all angsty, broody and depressive, would I? At least not about Naruto. Or I could… the next part of the story is planned out, in a very general sense. Hopefully, I'll actually follow my notes. _

_ChibiNekoSakura: LOL, Orochimaru is now your sworn enemy? I wonder if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I'm not entire sure, if you know what I mean. Anyways, I hope you like this chapter a lot._

_Toki Mirage: Yes, yes, poor Naru-chan, but well… I don't know what's going to happen next, but I think it might be a little bit better. _

_Shiomi: Kill the Orochimaru? Since when did Orochimaru become special enough to warrant a "the" in front of his name? I don't know, that may happen, or not, it really all depends on my mood and how the story goes, now doesn't it?_

_Jiro: Lmfao, I always thought he was a pervert anyway. He's after Sasuke's body – the innuendos that are implied there… sheesh, its scary how it's done, but it's all good. I've always disliked Orochimaru. He doesn't even warrant a Badass Villain Award from me. All he gets is an Ass Award._

_Tamara2187: Everyone seems to think Orochimaru should die and don't get me wrong, I agree – but he's very important to plot for now, and so he'll have to stay around a bit longer. Sorry. _

_Kico Yushimi: Wow, thanks… I write deeply I suppose. Not entirely sure. I'm glad Toki-chan got you to read my fics, cuz I love new reviewer people. They make me go "squeeee" with a really weird voice and a happy look on my face. _

_Lady of Genesis: Yeah, I have a tendency for writing depressing stories, sorry about that. But that's one of the reasons why I have angst as the genre. Queen is the greatest, aren't they? They're one of my favorite bands in the whole entire world right now. I feel so happy when listening to their music. _

_Kibethan: As always? Nah… that chapter was greater than most, if I do say so myself, but that was because of Ookima-han's help. I was stuck, so I sent it to her and she gave me some ideas on what I could use, and so I tweaked them here and there and made them my own before writing it. Thanks for the compliment though. _

_Queen of Anime: Um… I would pity your dog, y'know? I can't imagine that Orochimaru's head, especially after being ripped off, would taste good, nor would it be very healthy. And… um… on a slightly perverted note, which 'head' are you talking about? ((Perverted Smirk))_

_Vicious321: I'll hopefully get around to Naruto being bought, if not in this chapter, within the next one. At most, two chapters from now. As with every story that every author writes, good shall prevail. Therefore, Orochimaru and Gatou should get what's due to them – but only in time. _

_Hogo-chan: You know, I could ask the same thing in reference to the current manga. "Why must Naruto suffer cuz Sasuke doesn't bother to pull his head out of his ass?" Does that mean I'm keeping him in character? That's cool. Sasuke's always hardest to do at the beginnings of the stories. Naruto's an easy character to write, but Sasuke just… is Sasuke, and there's not much else to explain him as._

_Nejidragon: Yes, yes, I realize that I deserved to be damned for what I am currently putting Naruto-chan through. But, hell, I'll just remember to bring an ice cube. Always wanted to see an ice cube fizzle. I think that's what it would do in Hell, what do you think?_

_TenshiKaitou: Sasuke is resisting and hesitating because it's how he has to live life. Parts of why that is so will be explained in this chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Can Sasuke ever see when Naruto is dying? After all… he is an idiot._

_Darkangel: Heh, heh, here's the update that you asked for. Thanks for the review. It's nice to get new people. _

_tracy-kins: It is amazing how people can be cruel to each other – and the limit of that cruelty has yet to really be known. People kill people, they torture others, and they destroy souls and lives. That's the curse of humanity, the darker side that no one cares to look at. I've seen it nearly every day, in my friends' lives, and it pisses me off. I can write my stories down, but I won't copy word for word. I add in more descriptions, I'll correct my grammar. Whatever random word I can't read because my handwriting is that horrible, I replace. That's just the way that I write. _

_DeAtHaNgEL-LaVeNdA: I'm glad you love this story and I look forward to seeing your reviews again. Glad you enjoy this story so far and I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint you._

_All right, hopefully I'll be able to finish this chapter tonight and upload it. It's currently __Saturday 15 January 2005__ at __6:48pm__. Let's see how long it takes to finish this bugger. _

**Pain's Stoic Pleasures  
****Chapter Six: Petals**

Sasuke sighed. He was trying to think about what to do with Soukyuu. He couldn't stop thinking about the whore, and after a while he stopped trying to redirect his thoughts on purpose. Soukyuu was the ruler over his thoughts, but there was a darker force brushing the edge of these thoughts.

Uchiha Itachi.

His elder brother.

The one who had made Sasuke who he was now.

Itachi had been the one who had destroyed the life of _that boy_ so long ago. Sasuke had been there. The brunette had realized then that he could not trust anyone, whether they were friend, foe or complete stranger.

_Getting involved with human emotions; having friends and all of that shit just shows weakness. As an Uchiha, you cannot be weak. Forget about this boy. He's nothing to worry about. He was planning to use you all along, Sasuke._

Sasuke closed his eyes, trying to block out the voice of his older brother. Even Soukyuu's frail form was being overtaken by the dark aura of Itachi before something happened. Words appeared in Sasuke's head, words that he had heard Soukyuu speak.

_That's not all Soukyuu did. When Neji-sama brought Soukyuu down to the exchange place, and Master took Soukyuu's leash, Soukyuu bit his hand hard. It was bloody. Soukyuu proud, though Soukyuu did get hit for it… Soukyuu got punished by Master later anyway…_

Sasuke now couldn't erase the face in front of him, branded on the back of his eyelids. Naruto looked so full of pride and then fear had crept in silently, like a ghost. The blonde had looked completely petrified when speaking of the fact that he had been punished.

Sasuke still didn't understand the blonde. He wasn't sure why Soukyuu kept fighting. He knew that he was going to be beaten for it, so why the resistance? After all, it was Soukyuu's _job_ to service the customers of Gatou's Auction House.

A knock on the door startled Sasuke from his thoughts. After gaining his bearings, the brunette called for the person to enter.

A servant stepped inside the room. The man was about twenty years old and could be considered the closest thing to a friend that Sasuke had. The boy could have been mistaken for a girl, and had been nearly a thousand times. Long, silky black hair draped down his back in a neat ponytail. He had pale skin, like snow, with beautiful chocolate irises that would have seemed plain on any other person. The man smiled at the Uchiha.

"Good evening, Sasuke-kun," the man greeted. Unlike most of the domestic staff, this man used familiar terms when speaking to the Uchiha. "Why are you being so depressing?"

"Haku…" Sasuke grumbled, feeling a slight twitch to his eye. "I'm not being depressing; I'm being like I always am!"

Haku just stared at him. "Sasuke-kun… you brood, but you don't brood like an old woman most of the time," the boy explained softly.

Sasuke glared at Haku. Sometimes he really _hated_ the other boy. One of the reasons behind this was because Haku knew him the best and was always able to pick up on subtle changes in his moods. Even though Haku had been at the Uchiha house for only one and a half years, he was pretty close with his master.

"Is it about a certain naked blonde boy that was here on Saturday?" Haku asked innocently, although there was a serious tone to his voice and a certain edge to his eye.

Sasuke looked at the servant sharply. How had Haku known that Soukyuu had been here? They didn't run into any servants that night.

"Don't worry about it," Haku said a moment later. "I was cleaning when I saw you two go up the back stairs. I assume you got him at Gatou's, then?"

Again, Sasuke looked puzzled. "What… how?"

"Sasuke-kun, I'm surprised you don't remember me," Haku murmured, almost sad, yet almost happy in his tone. Sasuke didn't know what he meant, though or why he just didn't come out and say it. Haku grinned easily, as though that fact matter. He laughed at Sasuke's confused expression.

The servant shrugged. Sasuke couldn't help wanting to know what the hell Haku meant.

"What do you mean, Haku?" he growled. His voice held no room for argument.

"I saw Itachi-sama around there several times, and I saw you there once but you didn't see me," Haku explained, a slight flush coming over his cheeks. He was trying to figure out how to say it.

It was the past, but that didn't mean that he wanted to say it aloud, especially not to Sasuke. The boy seemed to be going through too much to need to know about Haku's life _before_ he came to the Uchiha Mansion.

"What do you mean by that?" Sasuke wanted to know.

"I used to work at Gatou's Auction House," Haku whispered. "I was one of the slaves there, but if no one buys you for four years before your eighteenth birthday, you are released on that date. If someone does buy you to bring you home, you're supposed to stay with them until the term is up or they set you free."

Haku stretched uncomfortably, if only to give him a reason not to look at Sasuke. The Uchiha was silent, digesting this new information. He never would have been able to guess Haku's past if the man hadn't told him what it was.

Sighing to himself, he looked at Haku, a sudden hope coming to his mind. "Haku, do you by any chance know a slave named 'Soukyuu'?" Sasuke wanted to know.

Haku thought for a moment, trying to remember what he had always longed to forget. Suddenly, the face popped into his head.

"Yes, I remember Soukyuu," the servant replied. There was a hint of hidden sadness to the words that Sasuke was able to pick up on, though he didn't know why he was hearing it like that at all.

"Do you know… who his former Master was for four years?" Sasuke asked. He was sitting down on his couch and Haku looked at him, noticing how much sleep the boy must have been losing just thinking over Soukyuu.

That blonde always had that type of effect on people. It wasn't as though he wanted it or anything, in fact he would much rather _not_ have it, but that didn't change the fact that it was there.

Haku remembered the privacy code of the customers that had been drilled into the slaves' heads by Gatou so that they wouldn't reveal who their Masters were if they should ever try and go to the police.

However, Haku also realized that he didn't work there anymore, so the Privacy Law no longer applied to him. He could say whatever he wanted because he had made sure once he was out of Gatou's Auction House to cover his tracks very well.

The servant nodded, answering Sasuke's question.

"Who was it?" Sasuke asked in a frenzied voice. He wanted to know who the hell was abusing Soukyuu like this.

"I don't know his first name, or maybe it's his surname that I don't know," Haku began. "As far as I know, he only went by one name." There was a pause here.

"And?" Sasuke asked impatiently. He was at the edge of his control. He was so close to finding out who the man that had caused all of this to come onto his shoulders, even though it was inadvertently, that he wasn't able to maintain his usual stoic calm.

"Orochimaru," Haku answered as soon as he remembered how it was pronounced. "Soukyuu's former Master is Orochimaru."

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Orochimaru… sensei?" he murmured softly to himself.

His Advanced Physics teacher was named Orochimaru. Was there a possibility they were the same person? Was there the remote chance that they were different people?

Hadn't he seen Orochimaru over at the Auction House a few days ago…?

_"Ah, Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru greeted. Sasuke had been a little surprised to have his physics teacher show up at a brothel, but he supposed that it really wasn't his business. After all, wasn't he himself at said brothel? It just was the way that some things went. _

_"I didn't know you were here tonight," Orochimaru continued. _

_Sasuke felt a chill run over his shoulders. He had never met Orochimaru here in the Auction House before, so how was the pallid man supposed to know that he came here? Did he spy on him or something? Sasuke quickly squashed that train of thought before it launched him into a stage of paranoia that he did not need to reach. _

_"Just looking, Orochimaru-sensei," Sasuke replied, knowing that Orochimaru expected him to say something. Maybe his science teacher thought him to be one of those quiet in-class types who were loud and rambunctious outside. Sasuke was usually quiet all the time and he wished fervently that this conversation was coming to a close soon. He had seen the whore that Neji wanted him to look at – he did not want to have a conversation with his physics teacher in the middle of a whorehouse. _

_"Did you see anything of interest?" Orochimaru persisted. He was driving Sasuke slowly insane with annoyance. He hated people that tried to keep conversations going when it was very plain that some of those participating in the conversation didn't feel like conversing. _

_"Nothing today, I suppose," was Sasuke's response. He quickly turned heel and dashed off as elegantly and sophisticatedly as he could manage when his brain was full of thoughts on how to murder the teacher. _

Even though it had been a very strange meeting with his teacher, Sasuke had banished it from his brain. He didn't realize that it was _Orochimaru_ that had caused all of the harm to Soukyuu.

_Damn pedophiles_, Sasuke found himself thinking and then shaking his head. _What am I thinking?_ _Why am I having thoughts? Jeez, this is all too confusing. I need to get a drink of some sort before I drive myself insane with thinking._

"Sasuke-kun?" Haku was saying, waving his hand in front of the boy's face. All of the sudden, Sasuke jumped.

"Huh, what?" he asked frantically spinning his eyes around the room.

Haku sighed, shaking his head. "I've been calling you for ten minutes, Sasuke-kun," he reprimanded in a playful tone. Ruffling the Uchiha's hair, Haku then asked Sasuke if he wanted anything to drink.

"How do you do that?" Sasuke asked Haku after replying that he would like some juice.

"Do what?" Haku asked a slightly puzzled frown on his face.

"Know what I'm thinking right before I say it!" Sasuke retorted. "It's scary!"

Haku just laughed when he heard this. "Sasuke-kun," Haku tried to gasp out, but couldn't for a moment. When he finally regained himself, he smoothed out his shirt before answering with a straight face. "When one is the Number One Whore in all of Gatou's Auction House for four years running, one figures out how to read the mind of people before they did something, especially if it was something that one didn't exactly approve of doing."

With that, the twenty-year-old servant left, leaving Sasuke to try and figure out what he just said.

Sasuke sighed, closing his eyes, trying to calm down. He breathed in slowly, and breathed out just as slowly. He took several of these deep, calming breaths.

Without even realizing it, the Uchiha fell asleep now that he knew what he was going to do. The boy had been thinking for days about what he could do to help Naruto, especially after seeing the blonde in the condition that he had been in when Neji had dragged Sasuke to Gatou's Auction House.

Haku returned with the glace of juice a few short minutes later. When he saw his master curled up on the couch, he smiled at the sight. The boy was fast asleep, as though not even a hurricane could wake him from his slumber.

Taking a blanket off the end of Sasuke's bed, where several extras were folded up, Haku strolled over to the couch and unfolded it. He put the blanket over Sasuke's tightly-curled body.

"Sleep well, Sasuke-kun," Haku whispered fondly. He tucked the boy in, picked up the drink and turned off the lights. A moment later, the man exited the room, shutting the door behind him.

* * *

Meanwhile, Neji had just arrived at Gatou's to look after Naruto. The boy's wounds had still not healed, though Neji hadn't expected that they would, as it was Thursday. The entire incident with Orochimaru had been on Monday into Tuesday.

"Soukyuu?" Neji asked as he entered the room. He scanned quickly, trying to pick up where the boy was.

The blonde was curled up in the corner opposite from the bead. He looked up when he heard his name being called, but his eyes were blank, as though there was nothing seriously going on behind them.

Neji wouldn't say that Soukyuu had stopped thinking; it was more that he had been broken. A soul that could not hold strong to itself anymore. He still flinched every time someone came near him, but he was getting better at repressing it and Neji saw that as a good sign.

However, his eyes were still bothering the Hyuuga. Blue crystals, like ice, frozen and compact – never showing anything that happened on the inside, no matter if glass was clear. It was strange, thinking like this, but Neji knew that he had tried to save the blonde, but had obviously picked the wrong person for the job.

"Soukyuu," Neji said in a calm, soothing tone as he approached the boy slowly.

Naruto stared up at him, completely lost in an insane grin. The only thing that Neji was able to tell that this grin did not come from happiness was because of the tear that leaked out of Naruto's eye, slowly rolling down his cheek to splatter after a long drop to the floor.

"Naruto?" Neji whispered. He was afraid of saying the boy's name too loud, for fear that someone might here it… someone who wasn't supposed to hear it and then Naruto's future (if it wasn't already) could be ruined even more.

Something shattered behind those blue irises when Neji spoke his name. It was the first time in what seemed like years to the broken teenager that he had been called by his real name. He could remember – ever so faintly, his mother singing him to sleep.

More tears leaked from his eyes as his father's laugh entered his mind. How he knew that it was his mother's voice or his father's laugh, Naruto would never know. All that he could know what that somehow – his memories were stirring up things that he wished to hear.

Hoping to remember the words and to be able to sing them to others one day, Naruto paid close attention to the song. He didn't even realize it when he began to sing along to the words, completely in tune with his mother's voice. Neji was startled as a soft tenor came from the blonde's throat.

_There is a Reaper, whose name is Death  
__And with his sickle keen  
__He reaps the bearded grain at a breath  
__And the flowers that grown between_

That was all Naruto sang, but he felt relief course over him. He could _remember_ something from a time which he thought was lost. He had no clue who his parents are, how they died, what they did for a living or anything. To be able to recover a simple verse of a song was Paradise for the blonde.

It meant that maybe… maybe things weren't so hopeless for him after all.

Naruto sat in the corner, ignoring Neji, who began to redress his wounds. In his mind, he could see a wonderful lane of cherry blossoms, like the one that he had to pass on the way to Takayoto-sama's house last spring. And sitting in the midst of the cherry blossoms, that were all fluttering here and there, with sunlight shining down from above were two people.

The woman was singing the song that Naruto had just remembered while the man laughed. He couldn't see their faces, but he could see the petals.

The petals of the cherry blossoms that danced to and fro, as though promising him something that he could not dare to reach but still leaving him in peace and hope. It was the magic spell of the cherry blossom trees, Naruto believed secretly in the back of his mind.

If the petals of the trees dance around you, they are trying to tell you something. Naruto remembered one of his grooms telling him that. He couldn't remember which one, only that it was not Neji. Still… Naruto could imagine himself at that moment out with the cherry blossom petals, never mind that it was out of season. Naruto didn't know about the seasons all that much. He didn't know about botany either, so he wouldn't know when the cherry blossoms bloomed.

_When I'm eighteen_, Naruto promised to himself, not seeing his room, but rather seeing his imagination – and what resided there. _When I'm eighteen, I promise myself that I will go and dance around with the petals of the cherry blossoms. _

Naruto only hoped that he would live to be eighteen.

--

_"My Lord has need of these flowerets gay."  
__The Reaper said, and smiled  
__"Dear tokens of the Earth are they  
__Where he was once a child_

_"They shall all bloom in fields of light  
__Transplanted by my care  
__And saints, upon their garments white  
__These sacred blossoms wear."_

_And the mother gave, in tears and pain  
__The flowers she most did love  
__She knew she should find  
__In the fields of light above_

_O, not in cruelty, not in wrath  
__The Reaper came that day  
__'Twas an Angel visited the green Earth  
__And took the flowers away_

_Vas, The Reaper & the Flowers_

_

* * *

Kyuubi-kun's Korner!_

_The greatest part about the song that I chose this time is that it took me forever to find. The song that is in this chapter, sung by Vas, is not a song and was not written by Vas. Rather it was a poem by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow back when he was alive. I never knew that but I stumbled across it here and it made me happy to see. I like it a lot, that's why. I thought it was a good song for this chapter. _

_All right, It is now __9:06pm__ on __15 January 2005__. So how much time would that be that it took me to complete this chapter… two hours and fifty-eight minutes to be exact. All right, I'm tired. I haven't slept in ages… yet again… rawr on me._

_And for those of you who actually read these ramblings, I made the cut for the audition. The play I'm doing is The Midsummer Night's Dream, and my characters are Egeos, Hermia's father and also Starveling, who's the tailor that plays "Moonshine" in Quince's play. I have no clue who either of these characters are, to tell the true, but that doesn't matter to me! I get my script on Monday and YAY! I am in the play and WHOOOSH! _

_Anyways, I'm leaving now. Don't forget to review if you want to…. CIAO!_


	8. Triumph

**Pain's Stoic Pleasures  
****Chapter Seven: Triumph**

Sasuke stared at the entrance to Gatou's Auction House. In the pocket of his suave black pants was his checkbook. He sighed to himself, decision made. He was going to purchase Soukyuu. Slowly, Sasuke walked into the Auction House, remembering when he had confessed his worries to Haku that morning.

_"Hey, Haku," Sasuke asked as the manservant was about to leave to do his duties. "Do you think I should buy Soukyuu?"_

_Haku looked at Sasuke, a strange expression come over his features. "What's your reasoning for wanting to purchase Soukyuu?" was all that the manservant asked. _

_Sasuke sighed, knowing that he had to tell Haku the truth. After all, Haku wasn't a person you could lie to, he knew whether you were telling the truth or not. It was one of the boy's habits – but it annoyed Sasuke greatly, especially at times like these when he didn't even know what the truth was. _

_Sighing once more before he spoke, Sasuke stared at the floor. "He reminds me of someone that I can't remember. I'm not sure why, but something wants me to know more about Soukyuu. Something inside of me wants to see him again…" He shook his head, as though deeming himself stupid, insane, or both._

_Haku smiled, an idea growing in his mind as to what the real reasons were of Sasuke wishing to purchase the slave. "How would you treat Soukyuu once you brought him here?" _

_Sasuke paused, his mind trying to answer the question rather than ask why Haku was asking him this question. "I don't know," he finally whispered. "Like how I treat you, I guess… I don't know!"_

_Haku's grin grew wider as he ruffled Sasuke's hair. "Don't worry about it then, Sasuke-kun," Haku assured the younger boy. "You'll understand what's happening one day. Don't worry for right now, though."_

_As Sasuke looked at Haku's peaceful smile, all of his doubts vanished as though they had never been there to begin with._

The Uchiha sighed to himself as he made his way to the Special exhibits hallways. He was early, so several of the slaves were missing or still had their grooms tying them to their stands. To Sasuke's disappointment, Soukyuu was not there. He sighed to himself, looking at all of the boys surrounding Soukyuu's display. In his opinion, they were nothing compared to his Soukyuu.

* * *

Meanwhile, Neji was in a meeting with Gatou. He was trying to convince the short man that Soukyuu was in no condition to be placed on display tonight.

"Gatou-sama, ever since his night with Orochimaru-sama earlier this week, he had been injured and he is unable to do his usual service. I am suggesting that he is not used for his normal duties tonight," Neji reported in a clear voice.

Gatou stared at the teenager, thinking for a moment before he barked out, "No! The funds that Soukyuu alone normally brings in are too good to let it happen. Soukyuu must work every weekend unless he is purchased for four years. Besides, if he's injured, then I won't get complaints from buyers that he is fighting back, running away, or any other stupid thing that he does!"

"But, sir-!" Neji tried to protest. Gatou slammed a hand on his desk, glaring at the boy from behind his sunglasses.

"That is the end of this discussion!" he growled angrily. "Go and get him ready to be put on display."

Neji bowed, fuming silently as he exited and made his way back towards Soukyuu's room. He had tried to get the blonde _one weekend_ off and Gatou, being the greedy man he was, wouldn't have it. He hesitated before entering the room that was assigned to Soukyuu. He stepped inside the room, looking down at Soukyuu.

The blonde had not healed all that well. His mind was still broken, his wounds were still a tad bloody. Neji sighed, kneeling next to the boy. He began to unwind the bandages slowly, as to not rip off any scabs that may have formed over the cuts. Some of the cuts were actually healing, which Neji was glad to see.

He cleaned the blood off the arms of the boy and carefully rewrapped the injuries before grabbing the boy's hand and hefting him to his feet. Neji almost had to drag Naruto all the way to his display case, as the boy was still lost in a type of daze.

When they reached the display case, Neji cast a quick eye around for Orochimaru. It was just a precaution as to how much force he would have to use in order to get Naruto into the case. However, the man wasn't there. Instead, Sasuke stood outside the display case.

Neji narrowed his eyes for a moment. Was the Uchiha finally going to buy Naruto as Neji had asked him to weeks ago? He shook his head and then began lashing Naruto to the place where he stood every Friday and Saturday nights.

When he was done, the Hyuuga left, leaving Naruto wear he was, as was his job. Sasuke quickly made his way to the auditorium where the auction would take place. He sat in one of the seats in the middle, towards the wall, as he hated being confronted by anyone at the Auction House. He was, perhaps, one of the youngest people there and it didn't help on what night he had chosen to come.

Soon the seats were beginning to be filled up. Everyone was given a number sign to hold up. Looking down at his, Sasuke noticed that his was number ten. He shrugged, waiting for the auction to start. He just wanted to get Soukyuu and get the hell out of here.

The auctioneer looked around at the audience that had filed in. Security guards lined the walls. He smirked, knowing that there was probably going to be a nice auction tonight. After twenty years of doing this, he became very good at predicting such things.

"All right, gentlemen, we're going to start off with this boy," he began, as a projector showed the face of one of the other slaveboys besides Soukyuu. "We're going to start the bidding at five hundred, do I hear a five hundred?"

And thus the auction began.

* * *

It was nearly forty-five minutes later before the picture of Soukyuu appeared on the screen. Sasuke looked at it, then tuned into what the auctioneer was saying.

"This is our number two boy in the entire Auction House," the man was introducing the boy. "He's known as Soukyuu and is known for being a wild partner in bed!" This earned a few laughs from the audience. Sasuke felt disgusted when he heard them, for some strange reason.

_Old perverts_, he thought to himself.

"Because Soukyuu is known to be of such a high quality, we'll start bidding at one thousand," the man continued. Sasuke sighed. He knew that Soukyuu would be a high price.

"So, do I hear a one thousand?" the auctioneer asked.

Sasuke raised his number ten sign.

"One thousand, do I hear one thousand five hundred?"

Sasuke looked around and saw the number fifty-two shown above the heads of the crowd. He looked at who it was and saw none other than Orochimaru.

"One thousand five hundred, do when have a two thousand?"

Ten flew up in the air.

"Two thousand, what about two thousand five hundred?"

Fifty-two made the bet.

Sasuke glared at his physics teacher. The man was smirking at him. Wishing to end this early, Sasuke stood when the auctioneer asked for three thousand. "Five thousand," he let out.

"Whoa!" the man said. "We have a five thousand, anyone five thousand five hundred."

"Six thousand!" Orochimaru shouted, standing as well.

"Six thou-" the man was unable to get through the word before Sasuke shouted for seven thousand.

"Ten thousand," was Orochimaru's low growl.

"Twelve!" Sasuke yelled back.

"Fifteen!"

"Twenty!"

Here, Orochimaru hesitated. Twenty thousand was a lot just for one night, which was what he was restricted to.

"Twenty thousand," the auctioneer bellowed out. "Going once? Going twice?" A pause here. The man sent a glance to Orochimaru, who did not appear to be moving. "Sold to Number Ten for twenty thousand dollars!"

With that, the auction moved on. Sasuke didn't care for the rest of the slaves, as he slipped out of the auditorium and made his way to the pick up center. He didn't notice that Orochimaru was following him until the man blocked his path as he was nearing the pick-up center.

"Sasuke-kun," the man breathed. "Why are you buying my pet?"

"I wasn't aware that you owned him, Orochimaru-sensei," Sasuke replied, not looking away from the man's eyes.

"He's mine, Sasuke!" Orochimaru sneered, obviously thinking he had won the argument. "Even if you buy him for tonight, I have him for tomorrow, so there's no way you can win.

Sasuke smirked. "No he won't, as my twenty thousand dollars are going towards purchasing Soukyuu for four years."

"I will get him back, then – just you wait on it," Orochimaru snarled.

"Whatever, Orochimaru-sensei, now… you're blocking my way," Sasuke snapped.

The Uchiha shouldered past his teacher, who stood stunned for a moment and made his way to the desk. An elderly man was sitting there. He looked up at Sasuke.

"Yes?"

"I just paid for Soukyuu for four years, priced at twenty thousand," Sasuke declared.

The man recorded this in a book then pulled out a contract for Sasuke to sign. The Uchiha glanced through it, requested a copy, signed it, received and then waited for Soukyuu to appear. He didn't have to wait long, as Neji soon appeared with the blonde slave in tow. The Hyuuga gave him a smile, grateful smile that he would not have caught if he had chanced to look at the boy a moment later, as he handed the leash over to Sasuke.

Soukyuu looked up from the floor when he didn't feel the usual yank off his feet that Orochimaru liked to deliver upon receiving him. To his surprise, he was looking up into the coal-black eyes of Sasuke. His own eyes widened at the turn of events.

"Come on, Soukyuu," Sasuke said.

Soukyuu nodded vaguely, following his new master as the Uchiha walked out of the Auction House, leading the blonde to the car that would take him to his new home.

* * *

It was nearly eleven at night when the car finally reached the Uchiha Mansion. Soukyuu had long ago fallen asleep on Sasuke, which the Uchiha didn't mind in the least. He looked down at the teenager as soon as they pulled into the driveway.

"Oy, Soukyuu," he whispered, shaking the blonde's shoulder. The blonde gave a groan, instantly awakening. "We're here."

Slowly, the boy nodded, wincing when he got up because of something that was wrong with his back. Sasuke's eyes clouded with concern for a split second. The raven-haired teenager helped Soukyuu out of the car, not knowing what else to do.

Haku met Sasuke and Soukyuu in the entryway. The blonde looked at the man, his eyes narrowed as though he was trying to remember something.

"Sparrow!" Naruto yelled out, glomping Haku on sight.

Haku wrapped his arms around the blonde. "Hi, Soukyuu," he murmured. A moment later, he turned to Sasuke with a small smile. "Welcome home, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke looked at the two of them, who obviously knew each other and gave a slight nod in Haku's direction. "I'm home," he answered.

Haku smiled. He let Naruto go. Sasuke walked over to the blonde and took of the collar and leash. "Haku, show Soukyuu where he will be sleeping, please," Sasuke ordered. "I'm off for a shower."

"Yes, Sasuke-kun," Haku said. He looked at the blonde, who had tilted his head in confusion. Wasn't he only hear for one night?

"Come on, Soukyuu," the boy murmured, directing Naruto towards the staircase. After a few steps, Haku took his jacket, a long duster, out of the closet and wrapped it around Naruto. It would have to do until they got to the room Haku had prepared especially for Naruto, right next to Sasuke's bedroom, where the boy could wear some _real_ clothing.

Haku led Naruto to the guestroom that he would be occupying for the next four years. It was large, lavish and Naruto's eyes widened at the site of it.

"Welcome to your new room, Soukyuu," the manservant told the stunned boy. Gently, Haku pushed the boy into the room. Naruto just gaped at everything around him.

"Is it… is it really mine?" he whispered. Haku smiled, nodding at him. Naruto seemed to still be digesting that information. While the younger boy walked around, examining things here and there, the elder of the two made his way to the dresser. He picked out the pajamas that he knew Naruto would like. Sasuke had given him money for shopping earlier today and Haku had made sure that no necessity was overlooked.

"Here you go, Soukyuu," the black-haired servant said as he walked over to Naruto.

"What… what are those?"

"These?" Haku asked, holding up the pale blue pajamas with little red and brown foxes on them. "These are your clothes… well, some of them."

"Clothes?"

"Cloth that you put on your body, like what I'm wearing," Haku pointed out the shirt and pants that he had on. He wasn't harsh with Naruto because of his ignorance. After all, Haku had been the exact same way when he first got out of the Auction House.

The manservant showed Naruto how to put the pajamas on. Naruto looked down at himself, getting used to the feeling of clothing. It was strange. He had gone naked for more than half of his life, so why was he like this right now? Haku ruffled the blonde's hair.

"Oh!" the servant said. "I almost forgot."

Naruto tilted his head to the side and crinkled his brow, as though to ask what Haku was talking about.

The former "Sparrow" walked to the bed and picked up something that he had placed on it hours ago. He walked back to Naruto and placed the black-and-white walrus cap that he had bought on Naruto's blonde locks with a proud smile.

"I was right!" he gushed. "You look so _cute_ in that!"

Haku hugged the blonde tightly to him. Naruto felt strange… but comfortable here.

"Come on, its time for you to get some sleep," Haku told Naruto. The manservant led the teen over to the double sized bed, tucking him in. The blonde was almost instantly asleep.

"Good night, Soukyuu," Haku grinned. He turned out the lights and shut the door softly behind him.

* * *

_I guess I'm doing ok  
__I moved in with the strangest guy  
__Can you believe he actually thinks  
__That I'm really alive_

_I will buy you a garden  
__Where your flowers can bloom  
__I will buy you a new car  
__Perfect shinny and new  
__I will buy you that big house  
__Way up in the west hills  
__I will buy you a new life  
__Yes I will_

_Yes, I know all about that other guy  
__The handsome man with athletic thighs  
__I know about all the times before  
__With that obsessive little rich boy  
__They might think you think you're happy  
__Yeah maybe for a minute or two  
__They can't make you laugh  
__No they can't make you feel the way that I do_

_I will buy you a garden  
__Where your flowers can bloom  
__I will buy you a new car  
__Perfect shinny and new  
__I will buy you that big house  
__Way up in the west hills  
__I will buy you a new life  
__I will buy you a new life_

_Everclear__, I Will Buy You A New Life_

_

* * *

_

_Kyuubi-kun's Korner!_

_Alright everyone, here's the next chapter. I love that song. I've never heard it before in my life but the fact that it is exactly what I was looking for makes up for everything else. I love how it works perfectly with the chapter. I liked parts of this chapter and hated others. The auction part was the hardest to write, because I just got so BORED while writing it that I think I dazed out a few times and fell asleep. I'm not entirely sure. So yeah, I hate the auction part. I like the scene with Naruto and Haku, who I named Sparrow because of the scene where he sees Naruto when Naruto is training all night. There are a lot of sparrows and one flies down on his shoulder. Also, one I thought of the name, it just seemed to fit, y'know? _

_Anyways, here's the replies to the reviews that I promised. _

_TenshiKaitou__: I hope that you liked how I made Sasuke come for him. Sorry for making him seem so broken. I mean… he kind of was… but I don't know… maybe I was a little bit too harsh. Who knows?_

_Nejidragon__: Well, I've written a book, but I never published it and then a lot of the chapters kind of got lost so its no longer a complete book. It sucks, because I loved that book. It was my first completed work that was not fanfiction and it was special to me. Oh well… (sigh) I'll just write another book. I can never remake that book. It was too individual and a lot of the people in that book, because the characters were based on real people no longer exist in my life and I can barely remember them, so its better off without me trying to rewrite it. Anyways! Thanks for liking the chapter. I hope you like this one too. _

_K-chan xoxo: Um… your review didn't come out. It happens sometimes, but all that I got was an "I" and nothing after that. _

_Tamara2187: Yeah… some people should just die and I realize that Orochimaru is at the top of the list nine times out of ten. However, if you could refrain from slaughtering him until after the fic is done, I'd be very much thankful, as I need him as a character and what not. I'm glad that you like the storyline. What you said about it drawing you in and everything, makes me feel very happy. _

_Hogo__-chan: Sorry, no sasunaruness in the previous chapter and this one only had a little. I've been meaning to write sasunaruness for a while, but I'm just never in the mood. Gomen, there was originally supposed to be a lot of sasunaruness in this chapter but then it never came out of me because I'm so damn tired… me need sleep…_

_Liliath__: Thanks, and here's the next installment for you and everyone else! _

_Tracy-kins: Wow… that was one hell of a ramble… and I'm sure that's a good thing… I think. And no, I'm not Hermia… I'm Hermia's FATHER. I'm the evil guy that says… "You can't marry for love… that's just wrong… you have to marry this asswipe because I say so… nyah haa haa! And if you don't, I'll kill you!" Except in Shakesperian language, of course! Of course I'm going to include a lot of people from the series – there's a lot of people in the series and I have roles in my head for every last one of them!_

_Kibethan__: Here's the next update, I'm glad you like the story and everything. _

_Ookima-han: Isn't Haku just so lovable that ya just wanna glomp him? Yeah… Sasuke had a past, one that I've yet to really work out in my head so I'm not sure the next time its going to show up for real without just brief mentions of it…_

_Malitia__: You're very sadistic… but that's okay, considering I'm the author and therefore I am very sadistic… so yeah, join the club. I probably will have some more of that "hot punishment" as you so call it but not right now… right now is happy happy time… _

_DeAtHaNgEl__: So au, so perfect, eh?__ That's cool… anyways, here's the update, it came out as soon as I could get off my lazy ass to read it._

_Toki Mirage: You better be sorry for that accusation! RAWR! Read the whole chapter next time, dammit! And stop hitting your head on that wall – its not good for your health. _

_KageKitsune16: Yeah, I thought really really hard about the order of the whores. Originally, Neji was number one, Haku number 2 and Naruto came in three… but then I needed Neji as a groom, so I basically just moved Haku up a number and Naruto up one. I don't know who holds the number one spot as of now that Haku's gone and everything – however, that's all good… after all… its not important! Glad you liked. _

_Kali Swifteye: As much as I hate saying it, I'll have to ask you to refrain from killing Orochimaru… he's needed in this story. I'm sorry if that interfered with any schematic plans that you had for killing him. However, s'all good in the end – whatever that means_

_Tyranimo__ juicy? Is it still juicy? Or has it become diluted?_

_Princessares__: No, actually Haku didn't have to escape. Once a slave turns eighteen, he is released from the job of being a slave. If he was a bad slave and brought in little cash, then he is normally killed or guardianship is given to whomever wants it – for a price. The top ranking slaves, on the other hand, are actually given their freedom. _

_Xxphatxbaybeexx__: Nah, Haku's twenty. I'm making up ages in this fic. Like, Sasuke's seventeen and Naruto will be seventeen soon, but considering its august, that's after Sauske's b-day and before Naruto's so it actually makes sense. DAMMIT Anyways, I'm USUALLY making up ages, but you do have coincidences. I wonder if this rant made any sort of sense…?_

_Ookami__ Fuu: Well, Naruto's life is sad, I'll agree there. But that's only because traumatized souls are a hell of a lot easier to write, y'know? I have reason to make him unstable! MWA HAA HAA! Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter._

_Kin Uchiha: Sasuke can be pretty damn stupid. I think anyone can see that with the way the manga/anime went – what with Sasuke going to join Orochimaru for stupid ass reasons. Has it even occurred to him that… y'know… Itachi's really strong and Itachi didn't have to go off and join Orochimaru to get that strength – he developed it on his own. Oy… Sasuke's just an idiot and we'll leave it at that._

_Okay, that's everyone. Thank you to all, I hope you like the newest installment of Pain's Stoic Pleasures. The next one shall be coming sometime soon!_


	9. A Taste of Freedom

_Yo__! It's Kyuubi-kun here with Chapter Eight: A Taste Of Freedom! I hope you all like this chapter, I think I was slightly high off permanent marker while writing it… but I've been planning this chapter for a long time… ever since I had to find out a way for Naruto to get his whisker scars. Yeah, thanks to my Gure-senpai for helping little Kyuu-kun figure out how to do this. _

**Pain's Stoic Pleasures  
****Chapter Eight: A Taste of Freedom**

_The subbasement of Orochimaru's house was a dark and murky place. It was filled with tunnels and the like. Since Orochimaru was married, Naruto was forced to stay down here. He was chained to the wall with a collar. Next to him was a small dish of water and that was all. His master hadn't even bothered to give him a blanket, something to cover him up, keep him warm, since down there, it was cold... _

_The blonde was only ten at the point. He felt tears prick the corner of his eyes as he remembered the most recent tortures that Orochimaru had put him through. Naruto didn't like being here – not at all, but being in this dark, cold place was better than being up there with Orochimaru when his wife wasn't home. He hated the times spent with him. The man always loved to see him scream, see him cry, see his pain. Naruto didn't like to show his pain, which only brought more. He knew that he should just learn to act, but he didn't want to. _

_He just wanted his freedom. _

_Shino, one of the servants that worked in Orochimaru's household brought a plate down with the usual bread. However there was something else, Naruto noted as he looked at the plate hungrily, wondering when his last meal (besides his Master's cum) had been. Shino looked at Naruto. He had been the one in Orochimaru's house who had to take care of the slaves. Before Naruto had come to this house, Shino was merely the gardener, a job he missed. _

_He liked the insects, after all. _

_Naruto stared at the boy with his pitiful azure eyes. Shino placed the plate down. In addition to the usual bread, he had brought the boy a chicken leg. After putting the plate down, Shino left the blonde._

_Naruto ate the bread and chicken as quickly as he could. He spent the time afterwards chewing on the bone of the chicken leg, wondering when Orochimaru would try to have him again. _

_Sighing, Naruto looked down at the bone, an idea coming to his head. He felt around his neck for the lock which kept him where he was. Once he found it, he used the bone to try and pick that lock. He wanted out! He wanted to be free of Orochimaru and Gatou forever! And with this chicken bone, he could accomplish that. _

_Naruto silently thanked Shino when the lock clicked. He dropped the bone and with some difficulty managed to get the heavy metal collar off him. _

_He knew the way out of the catacombs by now, having been dragged through it almost every day for a year now. He jetted down the right tunnel, hoping that Orochimaru wasn't coming down at this exact moment. The boy's hopes were in vain. Orochimaru was coming down the staircase that Naruto was running up a moment later. As soon as the boy saw the man, his step faltered and his eyes widened in fear. Orochimaru stared coldly down at him. _

_"And where do you think _you_ are going, my pet?" he growled. _

_Naruto bit his lip, nothing coming out of his mouth. He didn't know how to answer Orochimaru without getting punished. _

_"Wrong answer!"__ Orochimaru sneered, his foot lashing out at Naruto's face. It stuck the boy in the chin and Naruto lost his balance, rolling down the concrete steps before finally coming to a stop at the bottom. Unfortunately for him, Orochimaru was far from over, to let the punishment end right there and then. _

_The pallid man grabbed Naruto's neck. "Trying to escape were you?" he snapped angrily, throwing the blonde against the cold, stone floor. Naruto winced as he felt the floor scrape his face. _

_He struggled to his feet, trying not to make it seem as though he were weak – even though he was only ten years old and small for his age at that. Looking up at the man, he saw that Orochimaru was livid. _

_"I feed you and give you a roof over your head and this is how you repay me, you ungrateful whore!" Orochimaru screamed, grabbing Naruto by those sunshine golden locks and dragging him back to where Naruto was supposed to be chained. He threw the boy against the wall and then picked up the collar chain, wrapping it around the boy's wrists, behind his back, before putting the collar back around Naruto's neck. Naruto tried to struggle free from the chain wrapped around his arms but it was done too tightly for any of his efforts to do much of anything. _

_"Do you have anything to say for yourself, Soukyuu?" Orochimaru asked softly. Naruto glared at the man. He hated him! He just wanted to be free from this lifestyle forever! He just wanted to get them hell out of here and start a new life! None of those answers, however, would make Orochimaru very happy. _

_Naruto searched his mind, trying to figure out anything that he could do that would be something that would answer Orochimaru at least, semi-well.__ Nothing came to him, as he sat there, chained as he was. _

_Death's__ gotta be better than this, Naruto thought to himself as he sat there. He finally smirked, realizing that he just wanted to die – and maybe he could goad Orochimaru into doing it. He gathered all of the spit in his mouth, the smirk not leaving his features. Orochimaru looked at him strangely until Naruto spat in his eye. _

_He reeled back with a startled yell, his golden eyes blazing as he stared down at the boy. _

_"You ungrateful whore," he snarled in the most dangerous tone he could muster. Naruto realizing then that maybe spitting at the man would not be the best idea. It was too late now to regret anything. _

_Orochimaru pushed Naruto down, straddling his hips as he produced a short knife out of his belt. Naruto knew that he carried the knife with him everywhere, but he had never thought it would be used on him. _

_Suddenly, the blonde began to struggle, yelling when he realized that Orochimaru was going to let that blade taste his flesh. The boy didn't want to be marked by that man. He wanted nothing to do with Orochimaru and in later years, nothing to remind him of the man. _

_He didn't get his wish, however, as he felt the blade stabbing his cheek. The pain made bright flashes explode in his brain, tears leaking out of his eyes. Orochimaru just grew hard as he felt Naruto's pain. _

_"Shut up, boy, or I'll give you another," he smirked after one line on the boy's cheek. Naruto couldn't stop yelling, so Orochimaru fulfilled his promise by giving the boy another. This one was harder to draw as the blood from the first leaked down to where he was carving at the moment. In the end Orochimaru had completed three whiskers on each side of the boy's face, the tears now mixing with blood on his face. _

_Yet the boy still would not quiet and Orochimaru felt rage flooding through him, as well as the urge to screw the boy. He dug his long nails into the cuts on the boy's cheeks. Naruto was beyond feeling any pain, it was too much. He had an overload of hellish torture in the form of Orochimaru's nails. If felt as though the man had claws as the nails dug into his cuts, ripping even more flesh from his body as they followed the path previously taken by the blade. _

_"If you ever try to escape my home again, Soukyuu," the man breathed to the boy as he grasped the blonde's chin with bloody fingers. Naruto's voice, hoarse from his screams, was silenced when Orochimaru harshly kissed him, never closing his eyes. Instead, the golden orbs were staring into azure depths, implanting that promise into Naruto, making him know that the pallid man meant what he said. Orochimaru drew back, wiping his bloody fingers on the boy's body before he stood up._

_Orochimaru left the whore there, figuring that he had tortured the lad enough for the moment. _

_As he left, he heard the blonde's sobs. _

It was only now that Naruto heard his name being called, but he was reluctant to come by to the land of the living. He wanted to forever stay in this place between dreams where nothing could hurt him. He wasn't so deep that he could have nightmares and he wasn't in reality so he didn't have to face anything that gave him nightmares.

"Soukyuu!" Naruto heard his name being called again. "Soukyuu!"

Now someone was shaking him, trying to jar him from the clutches of this place of nothingness, where he didn't have to exist.

However, after a while, his azure eyes opened and he saw Sasuke's face over him, concern in those eyes.

* * *

Sasuke had been trying to sleep, but a restless feeling was keeping him awake. He decided that he would leave Soukyuu to Haku for now, letting the manservant help Soukyuu. Haku, knowing what it was like at Gatou's as a slave, would be of more help to Soukyuu at the moment than Sasuke would. The Uchiha promised that he would only go in Naruto's room tonight if he was _really_ needed, which he didn't think he would be.

Sleep still wasn't coming! Sasuke's eyes snapped open as he mumbled curses under his breath. He got out of his warm bed, walking towards the bookshelf. Unable to think about anything that he particularly wanted to read at one in the morning, he picked a random book off the shelf. It was a manga. Sighing, he wondered where in hell he had gotten a manga and then remembered that someone – he thought it was Shikamaru – told him that he would like it, so he had bought it.

He had never really read it, though.

Looking at the title, it showed a boy with bi-colored hair and a strange blue backdrop. The title was _Gamerz__ Heaven_ and it was by Maki Murakami. Sasuke, who had read _Gravitation_ by the same author, thought that he might as well get around to it.

The Uchiha went back to his bed and opened the book. He began to read, looking at the pictures to know the plot of the graphic novel. He was about halfway through the book when he heard a scream from the next room over.

Sasuke's head shot up at the first yell. He cast a glance at his clock, noticing it was three in the morning. _What's Soukyuu_ _still doing up now for_? Sasuke wondered as he threw his covers off and went into the other room. The boy was thrashing on the bed, and it looked as though he were still asleep. He let out another strangled cry.

Sasuke was instant on the bed with Soukyuu, calling his name to try and wake him up. Only after he began to scream his name and shake him that the boy's cerulean blue eyes opened.

He looked fearfully up at Sasuke. Sasuke stared down at him, concern on his features.

"Soukyuu – what the hell's the matter?" he asked softly, reaching a hand towards the blonde's face. Naruto winced when he saw the hand near to his face, remembering the dream.

Orochimaru had come near his face with a knife… and Naruto still had the scars – the whiskers – that were the remains of that particular torture. Naruto felt tears flooding from his eyes. He hated his memories – he wished that he had none of them, but they were all still there. It seemed as though everything he ever wished for _never_ came true.

"Soukyuu…?" Sasuke asked, drawing his hand back after seeing Naruto's reaction to it. "What's wrong, Soukyuu?"

"S'not my name!" Naruto mumbled, not wishing to live the life of the whore. He had to go back to it today, but he still didn't want to. "S'not my name!"

Sasuke only stared at his newest housegust. "Then what is your name?" he asked kindly.

"Naruto," the blonde answered immediately.

"Alright, Naruto, what's the matter?"

"Bad dream."

"About?"

"Bad things." Naruto sniffled here, his eyes cast downward.

"Like what?"

"Master hurting me. Master gave me scars – scars never go away…"

Sasuke looked at the boy. It was possible that Naruto was talking about the scars on his cheeks. _Why the fuck would Orochimaru give Naruto those scars_? Sasuke asked himself, but he didn't really want to know after all. Hadn't Orochimaru done thousands of things to Naruto?

"Its okay – that's not going to happen anymore, Naruto," Sasuke told him.

Naruto looked up at Sasuke. "Why not?" the boy wanted to know. "People only buy me for one-night and so it can happen again – probably tonight."

"Naruto – you're going to stay here for the next four years, if you want," Sasuke murmured.

Naruto looked up at him, wide azure eyes disbelieving. "R-really?" he asked. Sasuke could only nod, after seeing his face at those words. Naruto grabbed Sasuke around the waist, surprising the Uchiha. He buried his head into Sasuke's shirt and Sasuke heard stream of mumbled "thank you"s. He smiled, allowing his arms to encircle the blonde.

They stood that way for a while. When Sasuke went to move, he realized that Naruto had fallen asleep – while still attached to Sasuke. Muttering something incoherently, Sasuke readjusted himself so that he was comfortable, pulling them both down so they were laying on the bed. The boy was still hugging him, and Sasuke stared at his sleeping face.

This boy really was special, at least – Sasuke was reluctant to admit – to him, he was.

_

* * *

Cool breeze and autumn leaves  
__Slow motion daylight  
__A lone pair of watchful eyes  
__Oversee the living  
__Feel the presence all around  
__A tortured soul  
__A wound unhealing  
__No regrets or promises  
__The past is gone  
__But you can still be free  
__If time will set you free _

_Time now to spread your wings  
__To take to flight  
__The life endeavor  
__Aim for the burning sun  
__You're trapped inside  
__But you can still be free  
__If time will set you free  
__But it's a long, long way to go_

_Keep moving way up high  
__You see the light  
__It shines forever  
__Sail through the crimson skies  
__The purest light  
__The light that sets you free  
__If time will set you free  
__  
Savage__Garden__, You Can Still Be Free_

_

* * *

Kyuubi-kun's Korner_

_Yeah, there's chapter eight. A bit of angst, a bit of happiness… yarp! Stay tuned for the next chapter. _

_Special thanks to Ookima-han who helped me out with an idea during a period of writer's blockade! It made this chapter happen, actually… considering I was staring at a blank document (I was reading fanfiction) and I was about to type (I realized I should get off my lazy ass and open a word document to write) but I didn't know what to write (I didn't know what to write). Ookima-han helped me out (translation: saved my ass) by telling me a suggestion (giving me a kick-ass idea) while we were talking (while I was bitching about how much I didn't know what to write.)_

_So there you have it folks – Ookima-han is the reason this chapter exists. Thanks Ookima-han! And my Shigure-senpai is the reason Orochimaru was so damn sadistic! HA!_

_Review if you will!_


	10. Live Your Way

**Pain's Stoic Pleasures  
****Chapter Nine: Live Your Way**

Orochimaru stomped into his house at nearly three in the morning. He was furious with what had just happened at the Auction House. Soukyuu had been bought _by that little Uchiha snot _for four whole years. The boy was seventeen soon, meaning that Orochimaru would never be able to get his hands on his pet again.

Kabuto was there, waiting for him like always. "Orochimaru-sama?" he asked, noticing that the man's mood was strange and he was obviously angered.

"What is it?" the pallid man barked, striding past Kabuto. The younger man followed him quickly.

"You got a phone call from Uchiha Itachi about an hour ago," Kabuto began. Orochimaru stopped immediately, making his subordinate crash into him.

"Sorry, Orochimaru-sama," the man said as he bowed. Orochimaru waved his hand, showing that it didn't matter. Kabuto fixed his glasses while waiting for his master's response.

"What did he want?" Orochimaru asked him.

"I'm not entirely sure," Kabuto reported. "He refused to leave a message."

Orochimaru looked thoughtful at this. "Kabuto," he stated.

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama?" was the younger man's answer.

"Call him back, send him over to my line once you have reached him and put it on the visual, understand?" the pale snake snapped.

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama."

Orochimaru made his way to his home office, which was a lavish décor. He strode over to the expensive wooden desk, shined to perfection by his servants and sat in the large, comfortable chair. He typed a code into the desk keyboard, which turned on the computer monitor for a video conference. He watched as the face of Uchiha Itachi came onto the screen.

"Orochimaru-san," the man said in his dead voice. Orochimaru had always secretly admired Itachi. The man was younger than him by about fifteen years, yet he was about as powerful as him. It was known that Uchiha Itachi had done all of it on his own.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" Orochimaru asked, leaning back in his chair, never moving his eyes from Itachi's.

"I need to confer with you on a matter regarding my brother," Itachi responded.

"Oh?" Orochimaru asked. It was known by Itachi that Orochimaru was Sasuke's physics teacher (which was one of his side jobs. Orochimaru was actually the CEO of a major corporation dealing with music called Hibiki Studios.)

"Yes," Itachi confirmed. "I have reason to believe that he has taken a former… distraction under his name. My sources have informed me that you know this distraction."

"If you are speaking about Soukyuu, the slave from Gatou's, I would very much rather the boy be at my house than your brother's," Orochimaru snapped.

Itachi just stared at Orochimaru coldly. "Believe me, Orochimaru-san, I would much rather have that than what it is right now," Itachi said.

"Why would you not want a whore at your brother's house?" Orochimaru wanted to know.

"I wouldn't care for a whore," Itachi sneered. "It's more of an Uzumaki that I worry."

"Uzumaki?" Orochimaru repeated, furrowing his brow. Something about that name made him remember something that he wasn't entirely sure what.

Itachi nodded, looking complacent. "Yes, 'Uzumaki'. Are you sure you don't remember the name?" the Uchiha asked, staring at the other man through the computer with his scary red eyes. It wasn't strange to see Uchiha Itachi with red and black eyes that could spin whenever he wanted to. It was old news to Orochimaru that the man had dabbled with a laboratory's experiments in his early teenage years. Now, in his mid-twenties, the man seemed stuck with red eyes.

They were scary, but Orochimaru knew that those eyes would be much worse if the man wasn't scary as well. It was a strange concept, but one that worked for the likes of Uchiha Itachi.

Orochimaru shook his head. "Nothing comes to me about the name," he told the other truthfully. "Would you care to fill me in?"

Itachi thought about this for a moment. "I suppose so," he said. "Fifteen years ago, there was a well-known laboratory that was called the Center of Genetic Control which specialized in DNA testing, including mixing mutations of cells within the DNA to ultimately change it. This laboratory is the reason for my eyes. Uchiha Corporation funded them for a while, but when they would not do as we said; we killed the founders – Uzumaki Arashi and Uzumaki Shouko. Now do you remember them?"

Orochimaru looked stoic at the news. _Now_ he remembered the name, as soon as it was partnered with the first names. Well, at least he had gotten his revenge on Arashi for what the blonde man had done to him when they were in college. He stole nearly everything from Orochimaru and the man had sworn vengeance on him.

He hadn't known back then that vengeance would be this… tasteful.

"So why have you contacted me with this information?" Orochimaru looked at Itachi, concentrating to the matter at hand. If he thought of Arashi too much, he would get angry and he didn't want to lash out at Itachi for reasons that Itachi wasn't the cause of.

"I want you to get the child of Arashi and Shouko back from my brother's mansion," Itachi told him. "I don't care how you do it – but you are not allowed to kill any of the personal of the Uchiha Mansion as you retrieve the Uzumaki."

Orochimaru leaned back in his chain, fingers intertwined in front of his face. He lightly rested his nose on the fingers. "So, besides the boy, is there anything else that I get out of this deal?"

"Why would you want anything else?" Itachi sneered.

Orochimaru smirked. "Because I'm a greedy old bastard, as I heard you once say so yourself," he said. "Why would I just be satisfied with one boy – why not take Sasuke-kun instead. That boy has been annoying me lately and he does need something to just shut him up."

Itachi's eyes narrowed slightly. Orochimaru smiled evilly when he saw this. "Ahh, I have something else to attend to Itachi-san," he said. "I shall think on you offer and give my answer whenever I reach one. It's been a pleasure."

With that, Orochimaru ended the transmission.

* * *

Haku walked into Naruto's room the next morning, wondering where Sasuke was. He had looked in Sasuke's room and had found the boy missing. The manservant looked at the bed and smiled, seeing Sasuke and Naruto actually _cuddling_ while they were asleep.

It was just so cute!

Silently, he left, returning soon afterward with a camera. He snapped a photo, the flash waking Sasuke.

"Haku?" the Uchiha asked groggily.

"Welcome to Mars, Sasuke-kun," Haku smiled.

Sasuke just looked at Haku as if he were insane. He yawned before asking his next question. "What the fuck are you going on about?" he growled out.

"Women are from Venus, _men_ are from Mars, haven't you ever heard that?" Haku asked, gesturing towards the person next to Sasuke.

Sasuke looked down, eyes widening as he saw Naruto there, hugging his chest.

Haku giggles at the surprised look on Sasuke's face. How he wished he could have snapped more blackmail photos of his employer but the boy had woken up.

"Where the fuck am I?" Sasuke snapped at Haku.

"Soukyuu's room," was the reply he was given.

"How the hell did I get in here?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, Sasuke-kun."

There was a slight groan which brought an end to this conversation. Both men looked at the blonde who was unconsciously cuddling up to Sasuke. Those azure eyes – the eyes that he was named for – opened slowly, hazed over with a blissful dream, the first one the boy had had in what seemed like years. After the scary dream about Orochimaru, Naruto had dreamt of Sasuke telling him that he was welcome to stay the next _four years_ at the Uchiha Mansion rather than go back to being a one-night rental whore at Gatou's place.

Naruto looked up blearily, noticing that he was clinging to Sasuke. When he saw the strange look on the other boy's face, he scrambled back.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry, Sasuke-sama," he apologized quickly, bowing to the other boy. "I won't d-do it again."

Haku looked at the boy strangely. Sure, being an ex-whore himself, he had seen his fair share of bad things and things he didn't want to remember, but he still managed to retain his personality throughout it all. Naruto, however, seemed to switch from being the blonde that Haku once knew and the slave that Orochimaru had made him to be.

Sasuke seemed to be at lost for what to do. If it had been any other situation, Haku would have laughed at the startled look on Sasuke's face, but he knew that laughing was not the right thing to do at the moment.

Naruto stayed in the bow that he had done. He just _knew_ he was going to be hit for this. He just knew that something bad was going to happen. Something bad always happened… it was the way that his life was – he had learned to accept that fact a long time ago. It was just what he did.

It was all he _could_ do, especially after learning from Orochimaru, the hard way, that there was no escape and that he would be stuck in this hell until he was killed, which would probably be soon.

The blonde wondered about in which way he would be destroyed… would it be a bullet? Drugs? Slow, torturous death? He didn't know, and in his masochistic mind, he imagined all of the scenarios that he could until he heard his name called.

"Naruto, stop bowing," Sasuke grumbled.

The blonde looked up at his new master. Not bow? But… that was almost blasphemous! He was always told to bow. It made his masters feel stronger and made him seem more submissive.

"Look, Naruto," Sasuke was saying, his back turned towards the boy. Naruto slowly got up, sitting on his heels instead of bowing to the floor. "You won't be forced to do anything you don't want to while you're in this house. You are a guest here – don't make it seem like you're a prisoner."

_Maybe by letting this happen this way,_ Sasuke thought, _I can find redemption._

Haku shook his head, silently leaving. Perhaps, he thought as he went, he should bring breakfast up to Soukyuu's room for today.

Back in Naruto's room, the blonde was completely confused. He didn't know what Sasuke was saying. Sasuke seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, as there was a tense aura around him. It was as though the boy was sifting through the chained parts of his mind, trying to figure out what was going on, why his heart was showing itself _now_ of all times.

What was it about the whore behind him that made him feel this way? The brunette didn't know – didn't need to think about it. Maybe it was exactly as he had told Haku yesterday. Naruto reminded him of someone he once knew, a long time ago… but could not remember.

"Live here, with no cares or worries," Sasuke whispered, and Naruto had to strain his ears in order to hear him. The brunette stared up at the ceiling, not daring to turn around. He didn't want to face the mirror image of the face from the picture in his pantry. To face that would mean… he would become lost in the sunshine that emitted from the boy. Naruto… he was so much like the boy that had been destroyed by Itachi.

So similar. Sasuke shook his head. He didn't need to dwell on thoughts like this at the moment. In fact, he wanted _not_ to dwell on them!

"Sasuke-sama?" Naruto asked, thoroughly puzzled by this point. The Uchiha seemed so… off… today that he couldn't exactly pinpoint the teenager's personality and how far he could go. Naruto was usually good at reading this type of thing, but Sasuke eluded him.

It intrigued Naruto, though he didn't want to seem so bold. He was still until the deception that what had happened in the early hours of the morning had just been a dream, even though proof sat before that said it was not. Still, Naruto couldn't trust anyone. Everyone betrayed them… hadn't they?

"Drop the 'sama', Naruto," Sasuke said, turning back to the blonde. Naruto tilted his head a little, scrunching up his eyebrows. He was most _definitely_ confused. "I won't give you many commands or orders. I brought you here because of a request from an acquaintance that wouldn't leave me alone about it."

Before Naruto could question Sasuke, which was what he was about to do, Haku came into the room with a tray of food. "Breakfast!" the former Sparrow chirped.

Both Naruto and Sasuke stared at Haku for a moment in complete silence. Haku bustled over with the breakfast tray to a table that was in the large room. He set the tray on the table and pulled over two chairs.

"Join us, Haku," Sasuke invited. Haku raised an eyebrow. This was strange. It wasn't Sunday. It was only Saturday. Haku always took brunch with Sasuke-kun on Sundays, but he shrugged it off, retrieving another chair from a random place around the room. Sasuke and Haku sat down while Naruto remained on the bed, eyes wide. He had no idea what to do.

"Come on, Soukyuu," Haku waved the boy over. Slowly, the blonde slid off the large bed and made his way over to the chair.

"Am I supposed to sit here?" he asked in a small voice.

Haku nodded kindly. Stiffly, the boy sat down in the third chair. Sasuke looked at Naruto, more questions running madly across his mind but he didn't wish to voice them.

"Ah!" Haku said as he was pouring tea for the three of them. "I almost forgot. Sasuke-kun, you have a riding lesson at three today. Would you like Soukyuu-chan to accompany you?"

"Sparrow?" Naruto asked softly, not looking at the older man.

"Hmm?" was Haku's reply as he stared at the blonde's hair, not able to see the boy's face.

"C-could you not call me by that name?" the boy whispered.

Haku exchanged a puzzled glance with Sasuke. "Then what do you want to be called by?" was his reply.

"Naruto! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, not… not Soukyuu," the boy murmured.

There was silence at the table for a moment before Sasuke turned to Naruto. "Would you like to come with me this afternoon?" he asked the boy.

Naruto looked up, confused. "Huh?" he asked.

"Riding lesson," Sasuke replied. He sighed. "According to my father, a gentleman must know how to properly ride a horse, so I'm given weekly lessons. It's a pain in the ass – literally."

Naruto giggled at the expression on Sasuke's face and the Uchiha granted the boy a tiny smile.

"S-Sure," Naruto responded. He had never seen a horse before, but he remembered Neji complaining about the same thing only a few months before. He looked back down at the pancakes Haku had brought up, finishing them at a ravenous rate.

Haku stared at the speed the boy was eating at. _Perhaps I should have thought to bring him some food last night_, he thought to himself.

Sasuke didn't have any thoughts as he ate his pancakes at a slower rate than Naruto.

* * *

It was around three that afternoon when Sasuke, dressed completely in breeches and a coat like any professional rider (with the knee-high boots and the brooch on the scarf around his neck) appeared in Naruto's room. The blonde was just nosing around, wondering what everything was and where all of "his" things were. He still believed that this couldn't be real, that there was some kind of catch to it, but he couldn't help bit like it here.

After all, here he was treated like he was something more than just a whore.

"Need help finding your riding clothes?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto stared at him. "You mean… there's more than one set of clothes that I'm supposed to wear?" he asked incredulously. That was ludicrous! Why should a person have more than one set of clothes? Though… now that he thought about it, he had seen Neji-sama wear several different outfits. Gatou-sama had different colored suits and Orochimaru-sama was always in different clothes too.

Naruto suddenly felt strange, as though he was touching somewhere that he didn't belong. He looked down at his feet, trying to squish the feelings that were overcoming him. He didn't belong here, in this rich place. He belonged in the sewers, where all of the other garbage and trash and whores were. He belonged in the slums, where no one was a virgin and sunlight was denied to the occupants.

The blonde didn't really know why he was being so depressive at the moment. He knew that something just wasn't right about this entire picture. He was _Soukyuu_, number two whore at Gatou's Auction House. Why was he being treated like a human?

Very few people had been even remotely kind to Naruto in the past. Yet what Sasuke was doing know was beyond kind – it was practically unbelievable.

The Uchiha was handing Naruto a new life, one without Orochimaru, Gatou and the name of Soukyuu. The boy felt as though he were being reborn from the torments of the Auction House.

It was just like a dream – or a fairy tale. Naruto didn't know which term would better describe the situation. He wasn't given time to try and decipher this either.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked, looking concerned at the boy.

"Huh?" was the ever-intelligent reply from the blonde.

"Do you want me to help you with your riding uniform?" the Uchiha asked.

After processing what the brunette said, Naruto stared at him. He was utterly baffled at the moment, and no matter how much he tried to remember what the other teen was talking about, he honestly had no idea.

"Riding uniform?" he asked softly, not sure what Sasuke's reaction would be.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Yeah," he answered. He opened his arms, moving his torso around a little bit to emphasize what he was wearing. "You said you wanted to try riding when Haku asked earlier, didn't you?"

Naruto nodded dumbly, still not exactly sure what was being said.

"Well, in order to ride at the stables I'm assigned to, proper uniform is required," the Uchiha explained. He went over to the closet in the room, pulling out a white shirt and a black riding jacket. After laying these on the bed, he went over to the dresser and opened one of the bottom drawers. He sifted through the many clothes in the drawer before finally pulling out a pair of tan breeches. Returning once again to the closet, the boy retrieved the boots that were there. He sighed.

"I just remembered that I must attend to something," he told the other boy in a somewhat apologetic tone. "Haku will be by in a moment to help you dress."

Naruto only nodded as he watched Sasuke disappear. When he was sure that the brunette was gone, he went over to where the clothing was on the bed. Carefully, afraid of damaging the cloth, Naruto ran his fingertips lightly over the silk white shirt. It was soft, and he liked the feeling of it.

_Do I really deserve this?_ The boy wondered. _Am I worthy to wear this? After all, I'm just a whore…_

The blonde was unable to dwell on this matter any longer as Haku entered the room.

* * *

Sasuke was looking through the latest statistics of his branch of the Uchiha Corporation. The life of a businessman, much less the boss of a multi-billion dollar company, did not appeal to the teenager in the least. However, he knew that he had a duty to his family, namely his elder brother. In some ways, Sasuke wished that he wasn't an Uchiha, but pride that was hammered into him for his entire life would never allow such doubts to completely reach his conscious mind.

Obsidian eyes scanned over the numbers on the papers in front of him. Something was bothering him about these figures. He didn't know exactly _what_ was bugging him so much, but it lingered in the back of his mind. He sighed, wondering if he would ever be able to figure out what that feeling meant.

There was a knock from the doorway, making the Uchiha look up from his desk. When he realized that the door was closed, Sasuke called for whomever was out there to enter. In stepped Naruto, completely changed from the way Sasuke had seen him last.

The Uchiha's eyes widened.

The uniform that Haku had picked out for the blonde fit him perfectly. Naruto wasn't very broad-shouldered, but his narrow frame held some type of strange aura about it that Sasuke found very fitting. The scarf around his neck, held together by the brooch made Naruto seem to be much older than he really was. The jacket was in perfect size with the boy, as were the breeches and the boots. Sasuke would have asked Haku how he had known what size to get Naruto, but he supposed that Haku had met Naruto before and would therefore know, relatively, what his size was.

Sasuke stared at Naruto's face when he saw the younger teen shift uncomfortably. "Something wrong?" he asked the other.

"It feels weird."

"What?"

"Clothes," was the boy's soft reply. Sasuke shook his head, sighing to himself. Naruto was certainly a piece of work – that much he could hand to the boy.

The room was draped in a thick silence that could be cut cleanly by the edge of a knife, if one had been handy at this moment. Both occupants wanted to break the tense atmosphere created by Naruto's statement, but neither knew what to say. It was the Uchiha who managed the first words.

"How long…?" he wondered, speaking in a slow tone, as though thinking what his question was as he spoke the words. "How long were you at Gatou's?"

There was a flash of pain through those cerulean orbs, but it was hidden quickly – subconsciously placed behind the mask that had saved Naruto many times. The expression that crossed his slightly tanned features now was a thoughtful one, as he tried to calculate the years in his head. Having never been properly taught any type of math, it wasn't working very well, but one could not blame the boy for lack of trying.

"I don't know," Naruto finally answered. "Really long time."

"Naruto – how old are you?" Sasuke asked, wanting to know a few basics about his houseguest.

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know."

"Your birthday?"

"What's a birthday?"

"Your parents?"

Here, there was a rush of something across his face that Sasuke caught, but couldn't identify. There seemed to be anger, sadness, pain, familiar, knowledge and emptiness all at once.

"Don't know," Naruto said. "They're probably dead or something."

Sasuke silenced the rest of the questions in his mind for the time being. Naruto wasn't in the mood to answer them – especially since he didn't seem to know anything about himself as it was. This complicated things a little bit.

_I suppose I'll have to ask Neji at school on Monday_, Sasuke thought to himself. He was about to say something – though he had no clue what he was going to say, when Haku burst in.

"Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun!" Haku shouted at them, glaring. Naruto looked at his old acquaintance as though the manservant had grown horns a pointy tail. Sasuke was used to this side of Haku, but it still scared him nonetheless.

"What?" he snapped, happy that he had been saved from whatever he was about to say. He wasn't entirely sure it was a good thing to blurt out things without thinking.

"It's two forty-five! You two are due at the stables in fifteen minutes!" Haku yelled. He grabbed both of them by the collar of their shirts and started dragging them to the car. Normally a servant would never be able to do this to Sasuke… but he was _Haku_. Haku got away with almost everything!

It was scary, but it was true.

Haku managed to get them both shoved into the car before following them in the limousine. He knocked on the window for the driver to start the car rolling. Naruto was looking out the window. It was the first time he had been inside a limousine without a collar on.

Sometimes, it was things like that that made all the difference in the way one could feel in a certain environment. Sasuke watched the blonde, unknowingly smiling a tiny grin at the look of happiness and wonder on the boy's face.

* * *

The boys came home after the lesson. Sasuke was helping Naruto into the house because the blonde had fallen off the horse and landed on the fence. Something had spooked the horse he had been riding and the mare had taken off. Naruto didn't mind though. He just smiled a smile that hurt Sasuke to look at. He didn't know why it hurt.

And so he didn't dwell.

_Sorry, its my fault_, the blonde had said as he walked over to the mare, who had now calmed down. He mounted up, but Sasuke could tell that his ribs were bothering him. Did he, perchance have a broken rib or something of the sort? Shaking his head, Sasuke led Naruto to his room, laying him down on the bed.

"I'm going to send for Haku to call a doctor," Sasuke told the blonde.

Naruto looked at him strangely. "Its okay, Sasuke, just a cracked rib or two, I swear!" the boy tried to protest. His voice was breathy from the injury.

"_Dobe_," Sasuke snapped. "If you had an injury, you should have told me sooner. I wouldn't have let you ride with a cracked rib."

The boy pressed the button that called for Haku on his cell phone. It was connected to Haku's beeper, which the manservant was supposed to carry around with him at all times.

Haku appeared ten minutes later, looking quite angry, and a little hassled. "What do you want, Sasuke-kun, I was with Zabuza, dammit!" he snapped at his employer. Sasuke couldn't help smirking. Zabuza was Haku's fiancée. Well, it explained his unruly appearance, at least.

"Haku, I need you to call the doctor and have him come over here," he told Haku.

"You could have gotten Elsa to do this!" Haku yelled, smashing his elbow down on Sasuke's head. "You know this is when Zabuza and I have our hours off – dimwit!"

Sasuke shook his head. Haku hated when he was interrupted during sex or foreplay, which Sasuke unintentionally did from time to time. "Bitch later," he told Haku. "Naruto might have a broken rib, maybe two. I need a doctor's examination."

Haku gave Sasuke one last harsh glare before nodding and walking out of the room. It was only then that Sasuke realized Haku had been dressed in nothing but a pair of boxers. He shook his head. He _really_ didn't want to know the details of what Zabuza and Haku had been doing.

* * *

_All your insults and your curses make  
__Me feel like I'm not a person  
__And I feel like I am nothing but  
__You made me so do something  
__'Cause I'm fucked up because you are  
__Need attention, attention you couldn't give  
__I sit here locked inside my head  
__Remembering everything you said  
__The silence get us nowhere!  
__Gets us nowhere way to fast_

_Staind, For You_

_

* * *

Kyuubi-kun's Korner!_

_**Y**eah, originally I had this huge scene with them at the stables and all, but reading over it, I thought it was too boring and was unnecessary, so I deleted it. Anyways, I hope people liked this chapter. It took me over a week to write. I'm trying not to make short chapters, but that means that updates will be slower. Anyways, review if you will. _


	11. Secrets Told and Untold

_Yo! It's Kyuubi-kun and I'm back with a new update. If you really want to know the truth, this chapter has been written for a very long time. Why haven't I posted it? Well, shit happened, I was barely on my comp, I wasn't living in my house, and I had no access to it. Besides that? I was lazy! You should all expect that of me by now. I'm a lazy sunnuvabitch! And damn proud of it._

_WARNING: mild sexual acts… in great detail… _

**Pain's Stoic Pleasures  
****Chapter 10: Secrets Told and Untold**

The doctor arrived a few hours later. She was led into Naruto's room by the maid, Elsa. Sasuke was still with Naruto, and Haku hadn't returned. Naruto was awake, but Sasuke could tell (no matter how much the blonde protested) that the boy was having trouble breathing.

The doctor was a blonde woman with a very big chest by the name of Tsunade. Sasuke had known her and her assistant, a smaller brown-haired woman named Shizune, for many years. They had been his doctor through all of his injuries, which came with some of the things that his father wanted him to sign up for. He would never forget the broken foot he got from ballroom dancing. Tsunade loved to tell the tale when she was drunk, so Sasuke rarely allowed her drinks anymore when she came.

"So, Sasuke-kun, you look fine to me, why'd you call me out here?" the blonde lady snapped. She came from the same class as him and being the one who had kept him alive and healthy, Sasuke guessed he could entitle her to be what others might think of as "rude" to him. Besides, she was several years his senior and it was in her personality anyways.

"For a… friend of mine," Sasuke told her, hesitating before labeling Naruto a friend. Was that really what he thought of the blonde as?

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Friend, eh?" she asked. She smiled at him, ruffling his hair. "Glad you've finally made a friend, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke glared at her. "Please, off the subject of my finally finding a friend and onto the subject of said friend being hurt!" he snapped.

Tsunade merely grinned as she walked past Sasuke to the bed. Naruto looked up at her. "Who are you?" he asked.

"A doctor," was Tsunade's response.

Naruto tilted his head. "What's a doctor?" he wanted to know.

Tsunade raised her eyebrow again as she checked his forehead for a temperature – which was standard. "A doctor is someone who helps people get better."

"You mean… things don't heal on their own?" Naruto asked.

"Most of the time, they can – but its better with a doctor, because it heals quicker and a doctor can prevent more incidents. Haven't your parents ever taken you to see a doctor?" Tsunade asked kindly.

Naruto dropped his eyes from hers. "Don't got no parents," he mumbled softly, shame making his shoulders droop, which brought more pain on his abdomen. He hissed at the pain that he felt. He didn't like feeling this pain – but he didn't like the shame that those four words washed over him either.

Tsunade paused for a second as she continued her examination. She was especially careful around the ribs of the boy. Naruto purred softly when he felt her fingers tickle his stomach. He couldn't help it; it was a reaction literally beaten into him. She raised her eyebrow once again at this, but said nothing, thankfully.

Sasuke watched her closely. He was good at reading what the woman was thinking just as she was able to be in his head a lot. There was tension in the air, as though Tsunade suspected something. After examining the boy and telling Shizune what to prepare (Shizune was very good with herbal teas, which was one of the things that Tsunade used. She preferred Olde methods to modern medication), Tsunade looked at Sasuke, motioning with her head that she wanted to speak with him in the hallway. Sasuke sighed as he rose from his seat, following her closely.

Tsunade shut the door behind them. She turned, golden eyes concerned. "No lying to me, Sasuke-kun," she growled. "I know when you lie, no matter how hard you try to hide it. Who is that boy?"

Sasuke blinked at her. What did she want to know this for? Was it right to tell her that Naruto was some whore that he had found at a brothel that he occasionally visited because he needed a blowjob every now and then? No… that didn't seem like something that would be smart to say, if he would actually be bold enough to say it.

"He's a friend's friend," Sasuke told her. Now, he wasn't lying, but he wasn't telling the whole truth either. Tsunade narrowed her eyes. She didn't like it when Sasuke avoided a question, which was exactly what he was doing right now.

Tsunade crossed her arms, eyeing the boy in front of her. He knew that she knew that he wasn't giving the whole truth. "No more games, kid, who is he?" she wanted to know, her eyes boring into Sasuke's.

Sasuke sighed. He hated arguing with Tsunade. In some ways, she could be worse than Haku – but those ways weren't seen very much. She was stubborn, more stubborn than he was, so he gave up the fight. It just wasn't worth arguing.

"He says his name is Uzumaki Naruto," the Uchiha replied, looking away from those accusing eyes.

Tsunade gasped, eyes widening when she heard the boy's name. "I don't believe it – he died, didn't he?"

Sasuke was confused. The woman was clutching her stomach with one hand and her head was held by the other. Sasuke's eyes clouded in concern. Was Tsunade okay? Why was she acting like this?

"Tsunade-sama?" he asked tentatively.

"My… he's alive," she sobbed softly.

Now Sasuke was completely puzzled. "Tsunade-sama, what's wrong?" he asked again. Why wouldn't she just _answer_ him for God's sake!

Tsunade sunk against the wall and slowly dropped until she was sitting on the floor.

"I should never have stopped looking," she murmured to herself. "I should never have given up hope but when Arashi-kun and Shouko died… I didn't know what to do! Shouko was my daughter!"

"Shouko?" Sasuke asked. He had no clue what Tsunade's ramblings meant and it was angering him.

Tsunade smiled tearfully up at the boy. "Shouko is – was Naruto's mother," she informed him.

Sasuke's mind finally clicked the pieces into place. He stifled the gasp that tried to make it past his lips. He wouldn't let it through, though. That was something he could _not_ do. He refused to be surprised by this. He refused to show emotions. That's what he had always been taught by his elder brother and parents.

There was a tugging sensation inside of him. He didn't want to let Naruto go. He wanted the boy to stay with him, though he had no clue why or even what the name of this feeling could be.

The doctor soon collected herself. "Where did you find him?" she wanted to be told. She was glaring at him, wanting to know how he found her grandson when she could not. She had searched for four years before giving up, and not even a trace of the boy could be found.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly. "Gatou's Auction House," he replied in a monotone. He really didn't want to go further than that sentence.

Now it was Tsunade's turn to be confused. She knew of Gatou's – had bought furniture from there for years, amongst other things.

"Was he a worker there?" she asked. By that sentence, Sasuke deduced that she was not one of the weekend patrons. "How come I've never seen him?"

Sasuke sighed. Did he really want to explain this? After all – if one was not given the invitation by Gatou, it generally meant that one was not supposed to know about the dealings of the Auction House on weekends. Looking at Tsunade, however, made him want to tell her – maybe for Naruto's sake, or just to get her off his back; he didn't know the actual reason.

"Have you ever wondered why Gatou's closes on Thursdays when weekends would definitely bring in more profit?" Sasuke asked her. His voice was flat, but Tsunade managed to pick up the emotions behind his act. The Uchiha's voice wasn't as steady as it normally was. Tsunade could sense uncertainty, even as she nodded to his question.

"There's a reason for this," Sasuke explained. He saw her sharp golden eyes and was unable to meet them while speaking of the circumstances and things that happened when one went to Gatou's on a weekend. He paused, wondering how to best phrase his next words.

"There are other things sold there besides normal auctioneer items," Sasuke began. "Humans are sold there."

Tsunade gasped as she understood the message hidden in Sasuke's words. "A brothel?" she whispered, horrified at the idea that such a thing existed in a company where she herself was a patron.

Slowly, hesitantly, Sasuke nodded.

"He was one of the products sold on weekends. Apparently his rank was two out of the hundreds of boys," Sasuke continued.

Tsunade glared through her surprise. "How dare they?" she snarled to herself. "How _dare_ they do something like that? How _dare_ they do that to _him_?"

Sasuke sighed again – he noticed that he had been doing that a lot in this conversation, but there really wasn't anything else he could do to explain how he felt in regards to the discussion. He didn't want to see his newest transaction with Gatou's Auction House leave him. Slowly, he turned to Tsunade. She hadn't seen the boy for most, if not all of his life. Sasuke had slept with Naruto, comforted him and reassured him. He had seen Naruto's fear when the boy had been dreaming during the night. He had provided the blonde with a home to return to if he wanted to leave.

"You're not taking him with you, Tsunade-sama," he told her.

"What do you mean?" Tsunade leapt to her feet, anger gleaming in her eyes.

"Exactly what I said," was the Uchiha's response. "You are not taking him with you when you leave my house. He stays here."

Tsunade was close to throttling the boy in front of her. "He's my grandson! You have no right to keep him from me!"

"On the contrary," Sasuke informed her in a bored tone. "I have every legal right to keep Naruto with me."

"What?" Tsunade snapped.

"I did look into Naruto's past a little before going riding with him. After Arashi-san and Shouko-san died, Naruto became a ward of the government. He was given to Gatou-san, so Gatou-san was listed, legally, as his guardian. Through a contract I just signed last night, Naruto belongs to me. He is mine to do with as I please."

"You son of a bitch!" Tsunade screamed. "I–"

She was interrupted by Shizune's cry of "Naruto-san." Both Tsunade and Sasuke turned towards the voice, meeting a pair of frantic cerulean blue eyes. Those beautiful orbs widened when they realized they had been discovered. Quickly, the owner of those eyes disappeared back into the room.

Without looking at his adversary regarding Naruto's guardianship, Sasuke walked over and slammed the doors to the room open.

The poor blonde was huddled in the corner of the bed (which Shizune had forced him onto), terror running through his eyes and frame.

Shizune was nearby, wondering what she should do in this situation. She looked to her companion for help and assistance, but Tsunade was off in another world. She was distracted by something but Shizune couldn't even begin to guess as to what. Her teacher was one of the most focused people Shizune knew – or at least, the most focused when she was on a job. To see her in such a state intrigued Shizune.

Sighing to himself, Sasuke turned his attention to Naruto. He was terrified, but starting at the boy, the Uchiha noticed something else hidden beneath the surface.

Pride.

Naruto was secretly proud of himself.

Sasuke narrowed his obsidian gaze, searching for that feeling again. Naruto looked at his newest master. In his eyes was a challenge, one that Sasuke subconsciously accepted.

The Uchiha stomped over to the shaking form. He calmed himself as he took a seat beside Naruto. "Tsunade-sama, Shizune-san, please leave. Elsa will escort you to the door." The boy rang a small bell that was attached to the phone next to Naruto's bed.

The maid appeared only a minute later. "Yes, Sasuke-sama?" she asked.

"Elsa, please take Tsunade-sama and her assistant to the door," the young Uchiha ordered. Elsa nodded.

Gesturing towards the door, she smiled and bowed to the other woman. "Please follow me," she told them. Not knowing what else to do, they did.

As soon as Sasuke heard the door click shut, he focused back on the whore.

"Soukyuu," he said, purposefully using the prostitute name for the boy.

Naruto gazed up at him, all essence of pride had disappeared from his eyes. He was wondering why Sasuke was calling him by the name he knew the blonde detested.

A flash of anger passed through Naruto's eyes. He couldn't understand why he felt _betrayed_ of all things. Hadn't he learned eons ago not to trust anyone but himself? That's why he did bad things, he lived for the punishment. Sure, he hated the punishment, but it was how he was built – to both love and hate the pain that was given to him.

"Yes, Sasuke-sama?" he asked in an innocent tone.

"What did you hear?" Sasuke asked with the slightest hint of a glower on his face.

"Nothing, Sasuke-sama," the blonde replied immediately.

"Soukyuu!" came the Uchiha's harsh warning.

Naruto flinched, bowing his head. "Only heard that Sasuke-sama is Master and can do with Soukyuu as he pleases."

Sasuke nodded curtly. He had the feeling that that was all that the boy had heard, but he wanted to make sure that it was so.

"Is Sasuke-sama going to punish Soukyuu now?" the whore asked in a soft, hesitant voice.

"No," Sasuke replied heavily.

"Why not?" Naruto answered. This wasn't going according to plan. He _needed_ to be hit, at least. It was hard to explain. For him, pain was a drug, and one that he was addicted to. He didn't like being addicted to it, but that didn't change the fact that he was. He hated Orochimaru and Gatou for installing this addiction in him, but it was why he could never believe praise or comfort. He thrived on trouble, he thrived on pain – normal conditions and such only confused the boy. "Master always punished me when I did something wrong."

Sasuke rounded on him, a frosty look in his black irises. Naruto winced, but couldn't tear himself away from that gaze. It was also addicting – like the pain… he was drawn in.

"I'm not Orochimaru," Sasuke growled angrily, snapping the younger boy from his reverie. "I'm Uchiha Sasuke. _Don't_ compare the two of us."

Naruto could see the rage that burned within the other. As a whore, Naruto had learned quickly how to identify negative emotions. He was very good at making sure that his Masters didn't stay angry with him. It was one of the reasons that he was still alive. Even if the contracts that the masters signed forbid them to murder, "accidental" deaths had happened in the past.

Slowly, yet knowing exactly what he was doing, Naruto approached Sasuke. He was a little pained by the broken ribs but he ignored it in favor of making sure that Sasuke didn't stay angry with him. The blonde brought his hands up to his master's face, cupping it as he leaned closer.

At first, all he did was brush lips with Sasuke, sending a jolt of electricity down the Uchiha's spine. Coyly, his tongue came out of his mouth, gently massaging the other boy's lips. He stepped closer, leaning his body into Sasuke's. Now, he fully kissed the boy, swiping his tongue out at the other's mouth.

Sasuke responded immediately, feeling Naruto's lips against his own sent tremors through his body. His arms encircled the smaller boy's waist. Naruto's hand gradually moved to the back of the Uchiha's head, playing with the boy's midnight locks. All questioning and thoughts were forgotten to Sasuke as he let the boy guide him over towards the bed. The blonde made their descent onto the covers slow so that neither would be hurt and their action was not broken.

Throughout all of this, they never stopped kissing, tongues battling for dominance as Naruto sat upon his master's lap. Sasuke let him – too far gone to care anymore.

Naruto could feel Sasuke's growing arousal. He broke the kiss, moving his tongue across the Uchiha's cheek, stopping to suck lightly at his earlobe. Sasuke let a moan escape from his throat.

Naruto moved his hands from Sasuke's hair, kissing him down his neck while they slowly undid the fastenings of the boy's shirt. He rolled the cloth off his master's shoulders, making sure to suckle and lick every part of the exposed flesh before him. Sasuke basked in the treatment, euphoria washing over him. He couldn't tell what was happening to him anymore, so great was his desire.

Naruto soon rid his master of all upper body clothing. He found himself trailing his tongue down to Sasuke's nipples. First, he swirled the organ around one, calling the nub to erection. He sucked on it calmly, his tongue becoming restless once he felt the pink flesh harden. He moved on towards the other nipple, applying the same treatment as before to this one.

Naruto then undid the boy's pants, dragging the cloth off the Uchiha's legs, the boxers soon followed, tossed on the floor like all of the other clothes had been. Naruto saw the nearly hard erection in all its glory. He likes his lips, pulling himself up towards the boy's mouth for another heated kiss. This time, Sasuke's hands participated more, tangling themselves in Naruto's spiky tresses. Naruto felt the boy's cock harden as he stroked it softly with his fingertips.

He loved this feeling. He barely ever got it with Orochimaru or anyone else. He was normally the uke, but here – here Sasuke was like puddy in his hands with his touches and ministrations. Sasuke couldn't control himself, but Naruto wouldn't hurt him – he was here to quell the anger of the boy, not piss him off more.

Naruto licked down Sasuke's torso one more, feeling the boy's manhood weep pre-cum onto his hand. Naruto loved this power that he held over the boy and this was the first time he had ever attained such power at the expense of one of Gatou's patrons.

Slowly, his eyes seductive as they stared into Sasuke's, he licked the head of the boy's arousal. He felt rather than heard Sasuke's moan as he took the organ into his mouth. The blonde felt brief pain in his temples as Sasuke's hands pulled a little bit on his short spikes but, like the pain in his ribs, the boy ignored it, sucking slightly on the boy's cock. Sasuke's moans grew louder as Naruto swirled his tongue around the head of the shaft, taking in everything. Naruto reached one of his hands up to massage the others' balls.

Naruto began to suck on the organ, coaxing Sasuke to come. He raked his teeth lightly along the length. Sasuke's hold on his hair tightened, pulling at the roots. Naruto could hear the moans of his name come from the other's throat. It wasn't long, with Naruto's technique, for Sasuke to come into his partner's mouth. Naruto drank up every droplet of the seed that spilled.

Looking into Sasuke's eyes, he saw a hazy happiness. Something twitched inside his chest but he didn't have a clue what it was. Instead, Naruto watched as Sasuke fell asleep, exhausted by the day's activities – including, but not limited to, the blow job.

The blonde, on the other hand, wasn't tired. He knew this. So, instead of joining his master in slumber, Naruto merely stared at Sasuke after he tucked him in. The blonde wouldn't be able to tell anyone what exactly what he felt as he gazed upon the sleeping form, but he knew he felt _something_.

Slowly, the prostitute turned away from Sasuke, choosing instead to look out the window of "his" room instead. It was a magnificent view of the city – that, Naruto had to admit.

Looking back at Sasuke, however, told the boy that the landscape was not the only beautiful sight around him.

* * *

Monday came quickly and Sasuke knew he had to return to school. Before he left, however, he gave specific instructions to Haku to watch Naruto closely. Haku had told him not to worry about anything. 

Sasuke thought about this on the long drive to the school. Not worry? But his mind was obsessed with Naruto every time he couldn't see him. Naruto had touched something inside of him – and the boy was like an onion, covered with so many layers that had been brought around him in order to protect himself.

Did Naruto even know who Naruto was?

Sasuke doubted that he did. He pitied the blonde, but more than pity – he found himself interested by the boy. He was an interesting fellow… that much was plain to see. Naruto was… talented… Sasuke knew this as his mind conjured an image of what happened only two days before.

Sasuke sat down in his desk during advisory. He never spoke to anyone unless he really had to so it was easy to zone out of things.

Naruto tended to zone out once in a while too. The boy was a walking contradiction, at least according to Sasuke.

He could be quiet, timid and afraid, but he could also be boisterous, loud and rebellious.

He could be wise, philosophical and curious, but on the same topic five sentences later, he became tired, stupid and bored.

Sasuke got up when the bell rang, only snapping his attention back to full focus when he remembered that he had Orochimaru's class first period. He went in and sat in his normal seat. He had to keep his wits about him in this class – who knows what Orochimaru-sensei might do if he didn't.

During the entire lesson, Orochimaru kept sending hateful glances at the Uchiha. Sasuke could only remember too well the last encounter that he had had with Orochimaru – only last Friday at Gatou's. However, here at school, he had a reputation to uphold – to be the stoic bastard. He would not let one teacher get under his skin and ruin the year and a half he had left in this godforsaken place.

Orochimaru was plotting ways he could recover his favorite whore from the Uchiha Mansion while teaching his class. He had already thought up several scenarios. The only thing he needed now was inside information in order to learn more about the habits of the household – who to watch out for, etc.

He wondered who he should corner.

* * *

_Ever amazed how bright are the flames we are burning in  
__Ever smiled of the tragedies we have locked deep inside  
__Aren't you obsessed by our hand was on the verge of beginning  
__Won't you cherish your fear of life that keeps us alive _

_Oh at least you could try  
__Let me just to be closer  
__For this one last time  
__Let me fall into your arms_

_It could be alright  
__Don't let us grow any colder  
__For this one last time  
__Let me close to your heart_

_HIM, The __9th Circle_

_

* * *

__Kyuubi-kun's Korner!_

_So, how did everyone like this chapter? I haven't started the next one. That was the original reason for my to not have this released, I wanted the next one at least partway done. Oh well, didn't fish my wish this time. I'm just going to answer a few reviews. Please do not be offended if I don't answer your review. I'm short on time, brainpower, and all that fun shit. However, I still love all my reviewers! ((glomps)) I really do!_

_Glass-Kitsune: How can a sadistic, gorey, idiotic storyline turn into a "nice little angsty AU." Maybe I'm just blonder than I thought but I don't really understand that line. Actually, I do, I'm just messing with you. Wow… ((blushes)) thanks for the compliments about how under most authors this might not work but how you like how I wrote it. It makes me feel special and happy. And a happy, special-feeling author always updates more!_

_Ulitheal: You think I got Sasuke down pat? I don't know – I mean, he seems a little bit too compassionate for the Sasuke we all know from the anime. Orochimaru is an important character to the storyline, so he can't die yet. Sorry!_

_Tamara2187: In all honesty – I have no bloody clue who the Number One slave at Gatou's is now. I just didn't want to make Naruto the best, because that's munchkining and I hate munchkining. Um… yeah… munchkining is similar to godmoding… aargh, I can't stop speaking in gaming terms. But, basically, the number one slave is whomever you deem it to be that I've yet to mention once this story is completed. _

_Tracy-kins: A lot of people made this mistake, which means I didn't write it clear enough. Itachi wasn't selling his little brother – Orochimaru was goading Itachi because he wants his little brother. Itachi, while a bastard, does look out for family in a strange kind of Itachi-only-knows why, so he wouldn't sell Sasuke. At least, not in this story. Well, yes, Haku does get away with everything. I mean – wouldn't _you_ let Haku get away with everything?_

_Ghostninja85: I wouldn't say LTHHTL is darker than this fic. I'd say they are about the same "darkness" just in different ways. I've been on a sadistic streak with my stories lately… I mean a _real_ sadistic streak, so I can forgive ya for not wanting to read one or two of them. _

_All right, that's all that I'm replying to. Thanks for the reviews, everyone, and I hope you continue to read and enjoy this story. _

_Ciao!_


	12. Taking Back

**Pain's Stoic Pleasures  
****Chapter 11: Taking Back**

Naruto looked up at the man, fear in his eyes. How did Orochimaru know where to find him? Why was this man here at Sasuke's house? Naruto wanted to be free of this devil, but this man was leering at him as though he were Soukyuu again. Naruto wasn't Soukyuu anymore! He didn't have to be afraid of Orochimaru anymore! Then why was he trembling? Why did he feel as though this man was once again his Master?

Orochimaru moved closer. If Naruto could, he would have backed up, but he had already pushed himself against the wall. There was nowhere for him to escape to. The azure eyes of his nickname darted around, searching for a way to get out. He didn't know where he could go that Orochimaru couldn't catch him. He though he had been safe here.

The last two weeks here had taught Naruto that he could smile and laugh and have fun. Sasuke had even begun to trust him enough to allow the blonde to wonder outside alone. Here, at this Manor, Naruto was learning what it was like to have a childhood. He had found out so many new things and the best part was that he was never forced to use the abilities that had been taught to Soukyuu.

Sasuke was even beginning to plan a birthday party for Naruto. The first one the boy had ever had. It would be his seventeenth birthday soon. Naruto had been looking forward to it. He loved his new life here at the Uchiha Manor. He trusted Haku and Sasuke and some of the other workers here. He had laughed and become more like himself than he had ever been able to show.

Sasuke didn't care if Naruto got angry at some things or if he refused some things. In fact, every time the blonde made a decision for himself, Sasuke would give him a small smile, as though he were proud of the boy.

Naruto was happy whenever he saw Sasuke smile. He was happy that Sasuke was helping him lose his fears. He had come a long, long way even though it had only been two and a half weeks. Naruto was happy here. He believed himself to be safe here as well.

But the snakelike man before him proved that untrue. It showed him that Orochimaru would follow him to the ends of the Earth just to dominate over him.

Two hands slammed into the wall beside his head, effectively trapping him where he was. Knowing that there was no means of escape anymore, Naruto looked up at the pallid pedophile. He didn't speak. He didn't think he _could_ speak.

"Soukyuu," the man whispered. Naruto closed his eyes, gritting his teeth together. His hands were clenched into fists at his sides. He wished he was far away, so very far away. "Don't try to ignore me, Soukyuu. I'm still here no matter what you do or where you run. You belong to me. You're mine. It's time you learned that!"

The voice penetrated Naruto's thoughts, followed closely by a hand enclosing around his throat. His eyes flew open, terror spreading through his being at the slight pressure on his jugular vein.

Sasuke was at school – he wouldn't be back in time to help Naruto in time. The blonde focused his gaze on Haku, who lay motionless beside the door. Haku had tried to stop Orochimaru, but the snake man had overpowered him, knocking him through the partially opened door. Haku's head had struck the doorknob hard and he slipped into a blurry state. Orochimaru had produced handcuffs from his pocket and handcuffed the boy to a table.

He choked at the grip, bringing his mournful eyes up to meet Orochimaru's when the hand around his throat tightened. As soon as his eyes met that gaze, he could breathe for a short second before Orochimaru's lips enclosed on his own. Naruto tried to fight it, struggling as he found himself trapped completely against the wall, the elder man's erection pressing against his stomach. He felt Orochimaru's tongue plead entrance, which was denied by his firmly clenched teeth.

Orochimaru was not pleased when he realized he could not ravish the mouth of his favorite slave. He pulled back, looking angrily at the teenager. Naruto stared back, half-fearful, half-defiant. Without warning, the older man's fist slammed into Naruto's cheek, knowing the boy to the floor. He stared up at the man, not knowing what was going to happen.

He didn't want to be taken by this man. Orochimaru grabbed Naruto by the shirt, throwing him onto the bed. Naruto tried to scramble away, but was trapped. Orochimaru looked at the boy beneath him when he straddled his captive.

"Still as beautiful as I remember, my pet," Orochimaru told him. "And what's this?" The man fingered the shirt that he was wearing.

Naruto stayed silent.

"Speak, slave, what are you wearing?"

"Clothes," came the blonde's quiet voice. "Sasuke gave 'em to me."

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed. "Slaves should not be given luxuries, especially _naughty_ slaves."

Naruto could barely comprehend what was happening as those sickly pale hands grabbed onto him. He felt the clothes tearing off his body and soon he was laying naked underneath his former Master.

"Let me go!" Naruto yelled, struggling against the grip of his ex-Master. "I don't wanna! No! I don't wanna!"

"If you do not shut your mouth, I will shut it for you!" Orochimaru threatened, a dangerous growl in his voice.

Naruto didn't hear him. He was too busy scratching, kicking and squirming with all he had to get away from this. His nail caught the edge of Orochimaru's eye, scraping off some skin and drawing blood.

Glaring, the older man grabbed the shirt he had just ripped off Naruto's body. He caught Naruto's small wrists with his hand and tied the wrists to the headboard with the shirt. Naruto struggled still, but he couldn't get loose.

"There's no way you can escape, my pet," he murmured in Naruto's ear. "You are mine." The man got off Naruto, leaving him tied naked to the bed for a moment as he walked over to Haku.

The boy was conscious, though a little out of it. Orochimaru caught the boy's chin.

"I remember you," the man said smoothly. "You were Number One for four years running, were you not?"

Haku glared at the man. That had been over two years ago. Why was this man bringing up that part of Haku's past?

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Haku growled. "If Sasuke-kun or Itachi-san learned of-"

"Itachi was the one that invited me, boy," Orochimaru said, caressing Haku's cheek.

Haku glared at him, realizing that he was chained. "What are you doing here?" he said in a more civil tone, though his eyes still burned with anger.

"I came for what is mine," was Orochimaru's reply.

"There is nothing in this house that is yours. You are trespassing on-" His words were cut short put Orochimaru slapping him across the face. It left a stinging red mark where the skin had been hit. It didn't faze the ex-slave as he scowled at Orochimaru.

"There is something here that is mine," the snake hissed at Haku. He stood up and walked over to where Naruto was. The blonde was still trying to get out of the grip of the shirt. Orochimaru stroked Naruto's chest, looking at Haku all the while. "This slave is mine."

"No he's not, Orochimaru!" Haku growled. "Sasuke-kun paid for him fair and square and has a contract to prove it."

Orochimaru got up, sitting on the edge of the bed, facing Haku. "Sasuke paid for him, but he was mine long before Sasuke ever heard the name of Soukyuu."

"He was never yours, you sick son of a bitch," Haku snarled, earning another backhand across his face. A second later, Orochimaru's foot connected with his stomach. He cringed, coughing as the pain spread, but couldn't hold it or anything because of the position of his hands.

"If I were you, I would remember who has the power here," Orochimaru said in a solemn tone. Leaving Haku there, the man walked back over to Naruto.

Haku stared after him, feeling an ice cube slip into his stomach. Something told him that he was being forced to watch something that he didn't want to see – and then what? Orochimaru surely should know that Haku would tell Sasuke-kun about what happened today!

Haku was brought back to reality roughly when he heard Naruto scream. As much as he tried to shut out the grunts from Orochimaru and the screams and pleas from Naruto, they still came into his mind. It made him angry. Here he was, completely helpless while Naruto was being raped!

He had told Sasuke not to worry when Sasuke went to school… well it looked as though he were wrong.

As far as Haku had seen, Orochimaru had not used lube. The manservant could see the blood pouring out of Naruto, confirming the fact that it was painful for the boy. It was painful for Haku to watch as well. He didn't want to watch, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from the sight before him.

Orochimaru took Naruto despite the boy's screams of pains and pleas for him to stop. He heeded nothing that the blonde said, as though he couldn't hear it, but Haku knew that he could. He wouldn't be surprised if Orochimaru liked this treatment that he was giving Naruto.

The manservant shuddered with anger. He was completely helpless as to aiding his friend and it pissed him off more than anything else at the moment. He couldn't save Naruto. In fact, he had to _watch_ the boy get raped.

* * *

At school, Sasuke felt something in the pit of his stomach, but he didn't know what this feeling meant. It washed over him, making it seem as though something bad was going to happen. He walked down the hall towards his physics class. Sure, he hated dealing with Orochimaru every damn day of his life, at least on weekdays, but he could still gloat that he had what Orochimaru most wanted.

He had Naruto.

The boy was… strange, Sasuke would give him that. He was loud, yet quiet, obnoxious and mature. He was innocent, but tainted. Sasuke couldn't understand any way to actually categorize the blonde. He was… just Naruto. There was really nothing else about the blonde than that.

Sasuke sighed wistfully as he stared outside the windows in the hallway. They were large and gave a great view of the grounds, especially from the third floor, which is where he was situated. He knew that he should hurry along to his physics class, but he felt the need to tarry a little farther where he was.

He just wanted to feel the wind through his hair. He had never understood the simple pleasures of life. Never in his entire existence had he noticed some of the small things. Those little things he took for granted that Naruto had never seen.

Like the blue sky. It was hard to imagine how the boy kept his tanned complexion when he had not been out in the sunlight for years. It was almost as though that bronze skin tone was genetic and nothing else.

Shaking his head, with a last lingering glance at the azure skies above him, Sasuke made his way to class. The first thing that he noticed when he arrived at the classroom was that an unfamiliar person stood at the front desk.

A substitute.

Orochimaru was not here.

The feeling in the Uchiha's stomach plummeted what seemed like another twenty levels.

* * *

Haku could only stare at the horror before his eyes. Again and again, Orochimaru shoved himself into his victim. The blonde could do nothing except hope that it would be over soon. Naruto's body collapsed in its bonds when Orochimaru finally released his seed into the bloody entrance.

Naruto screamed again, arching his back to push the weight off his backside. The seed burned his insides, making him thrash at the cloth that held him where he was. Haku tried to turn away, tried to get free. Neither attempt worked. He was still caught where he was and he was still staring at Orochimaru and Naruto.

Orochimaru stared down at Naruto. "See, pet?" he whispered, bringing his face close to Naruto's. Naruto's eyes were closed. The pain had finally become too much for him to handle. Haku couldn't tell if he had just closed his eyes against the pain or if he had fainted. Orochimaru was speaking to the boy again. "That wasn't so bad, now was it?"

Naruto shuddered slightly when he felt Orochimaru's hand on his cheek. Couldn't he just die and get it all over with? Couldn't the Fates stop laughing at him long enough to realize that he just wanted to sleep – to go to bed and never get up again?

"Get off of him, you sick bastard!" Haku growled angrily. His chocolate brown eyes glared at the pallid man.

"I think not, Sparrow-san," the snake grinned. Haku gasped in surprise. He had never had to service Orochimaru back when he was Sparrow, so why would this man know his name?

Orochimaru merely laughed. "Don't worry, Sparrow-san, I always looked before choosing. You were once one of my choices, but I decided to take my Soukyuu instead."

Haku felt like vomiting. This man was making him feel disgusting and he wasn't even touching him.

The elder of the trio had pulled his clothes back on and was looking sadistically at Naruto, who refused to meet his eyes.

"You may tell your master that I have recovered that which is mine," Orochimaru threw casually at Haku. The ex-slave glared at the snake. How he wished that he could skin the man and fry him and then feed him to the pigeons! But no, he was handcuffed to a table and such things could only happen in his imagination for the time being.

Orochimaru took another strip of the shredded shirt that had been Naruto's. He quickly strode over to the blonde and bound his ankles together. Looking at his captive, Orochimaru smiled wickedly before knocking the boy unconscious with a quick punch to his head. He picked the smaller up, throwing him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes or something of that nature. He began to leave. The man stopped when he reached the broken door.

"Be sure to give my message to Sasuke-kun," he said and left the ex-slave where he was.

Haku spat curses out after him, not knowing what else to do in his position.

* * *

Even with the warning lights going off in his head, Sasuke did not return home until late at night. By that time, Haku had been found by a poor maid, who had fainted. The scream had called a servant in, who managed to find a pair of shears in order to snap the chain of the handcuffs. After that, it was easy enough to pick the lock so that the tight metal would release his wrists from its cold grasp.

Sasuke returned, expecting everything to be just as he left it. He was surprised, to say the least, to see Haku standing there with a bruise forming at the corner of his mouth and his arm slung in a cast.

"Sasuke-kun," the man said gravely. His normally cheery brown eyes were serious and solemn.

Sasuke looked at him, not even bothering to speak. He knew that his manservant would continue when he was ready to, and only then. In other words, Sasuke knew that whether he spoke or not didn't matter. He just preferred not to.

"We received an unexpected visitor today," Haku continued.

Sasuke stared at the man, daring him to continue and pleading for the same thing. Yet he never said a word. All of his conversing was done with his eyes.

"Orochimaru-san came today," Haku explained. Sasuke's eyes widened, his mouth drawing out to become a thin line. Haku acted as though he didn't see this. He went quiet and Sasuke waited for more.

"How is Naruto?" the Uchiha asked, when he finally realized that Haku wasn't saying anything else on his own.

"Naruto… was taken by him," Haku choked out. It was as though he didn't want to say it – as though saying it would make it true and Naruto was not just hiding up in his room.

Sasuke dropped his schoolbag on the floor. He ran up the steps, skipping two at a time in his flight to the second floor. He rushed down the hallway, heart racing as he saw the broken door. He slammed it open. His eyes scanned the room quickly, then went slower to make sure he hadn't missed anything.

No… no, he hadn't.

Naruto was gone.

He made his way over to the bed, which was rumpled as though there had been a struggle on it. However, that wasn't really what Sasuke was worried about. The rumpled comforter could have been from Naruto laying on it – or because he didn't make his bed that morning.

It was the stain in the middle of the cover that made his breath hitch in his throat. He could tell, from the color, that it was blood.

_He's not important to me, I shouldn't be getting this riled up over him,_ Sasuke thought to himself as he breathed raggedly, trying to hold his anger in check. _I've only known him for what? A week? Maybe two? I don't know… it doesn't matter. He's not important. _

The world around the Uchiha began to blur, coming together. He could vaguely see people running towards him, but it wasn't anything that he felt he needed to pay attention to. He just wanted to sleep – rest… make it all seem like a dream.

_He's not important to me_, the boy kept trying to convince himself. _He's nothing like… Konran_.

And then he knew no more.

* * *

_Solemn faced, the village settles down  
__Undetected by the stars  
__And the hangman plays the mandolin before he goes to sleep  
__And the last thing on his mind  
__Is the Wild-Eyed Boy imprisoned  
__'Neath the covered wooden shaft  
__Folds the rope into its bag  
__Blows his pipe of smolders  
__Blankets smoke into the room  
__And the day will end will end for some  
__And the night begins for one_

_Staring through the message in his eyes  
__Lies a solitary son  
__From the mountain called Freecloud  
__Where the eagle dare not fly  
__And the patience in his sigh  
__Gives no indication  
__For the townsmen to decide  
__So the village Dreadful yawns  
__Pronouncing gross diversion  
__As the label for the dog  
__Oh "It's the madness in his eyes"  
__As he breaks the night to cry:_

_"It's really Me, really You  
__And really Me  
__It's so hard for us to really be  
__Really You and really Me  
__You'll lose me though I'm always really free."_

_David Bowie, Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud_

* * *

_Kyuubi-kun's Korner_

_Sorry for the massive delay and the semi-shortness of this chapter. Only seven pages. Ah well, I've just been so busy lately. I've been running hither and thither with my play, my head, my schoolwork and my family troubles. Everything's actually getting better. So that's good. Well, I hope to be updating a lot of my fics as soon as I can. The sequel to Ragtag Heroes are Never Fallen, unfortunately, may not come out until April, or even May. It's still in drawing board stage. Yeah… well, I hope everyone enjoyed the latest chapter of Pain's Stoic Pleasures. See you next time!_


	13. Beyond

_Yo__! Guess what everyone? I'm back… and with another chapter of PSP. I know that people want me to work on my other fics, but sometimes inspiration won't come, and its not like I'm abandoning my fics. I'm just waiting for ideas to come to me. In the meantime, I will write for what I can. As it comes, for right now, PSP is all I can write for. I wonder if that will change. I remember the good old days when I could pull out chapters for three different stories a week. Goddamn me for not being able to keep doing that._

_Well, I've distracted you long enough. Enjoy this chapter. _

**

* * *

****Pain's Stoic Pleasures  
****Chapter Twelve: Beyond**

It was cold. So very cold. He didn't want to open his eyes. He was afraid. If he opened his eyes, the dream would vanish completely. He would have to face reality soon, but not at this moment. It wasn't real unless he could see it. His eyes were closed, so he could see nothing. Nothing was real for these few precious seconds.

"Soukyuu, wake up," a slithering voice reached his ears. Naruto grunted when someone's foot slammed into his stomach. He moved to clutch his stomach but found that he was unable to. His hands were bound behind him.

He opened his azure eyes slowly, staring up into a group of unfamiliar faces.

"Finally," the only woman in the group growled. "We've been here _forever_."

"We know that, Tayuya," another voice said in an annoyed tone.

"Shut up, Sakon," Tayuya snapped.

The group was silent until someone finally grabbed Naruto roughly by the chain attached to the collar around his neck. He winced when the icy metal pressed on his throat, choking him slightly.

"Is this really the whore that Orochimaru-sama is so obsessed with?" a new voice wanted to know.

"Yes," replied yet another. Naruto stifled a gasp when he heard this tone. He knew this voice. He used to fear it almost as much as he feared Orochimaru's. It was the snake's apprentice, Kabuto.

The blonde froze, terror spreading through his limbs at the thought of Kabuto being here. Naruto had had only a few run-ins with the other blonde. All of them had left him scarred and full of fear. He didn't want to be here at all, but not especially if Kabuto was here. He didn't want to be trapped with that monster ever again.

Someone was unhooking the chain from the wall. Tayuya untied the slave's hands and feet. He stared at her with wide, innocent eyes. He was waiting for some instruction, order and/or punishment.

Tayuya looked at the pitiful teenager. "You will walk on your hands and knees like the dog you are, slave," she snarled. Jerking harshly on the chain, she brought his face close to hers. "Do I make myself clear?"

Naruto nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He followed the group, keeping on his hands and knees. Occasionally, whoever was holding his leash would yank on it, toppling him to the ground. They wouldn't stop, though, which taught him how quickly he had to get up after the first time of being dragged across the cold stone floor.

They were going deeper into the catacombs of rooms and hallways under Orochimaru's mansion. Naruto didn't think he had ever been this deep. Did these people know where they were going? All he could do, however, was hope that they did and follow them.

They reached a large room that actually had been installed with electrical lighting. Naruto could only look around at the room in horror. This place was a torture chamber. Naruto didn't want to know what some of the contraptions were used for. The place felt familiar to him. He didn't know why this was so. He didn't think that he even _wanted_ to know why.

Naruto was led to a simple device. It looked kind of like a pull-up bar or something of that nature. He didn't know what they wanted him to do with it, so he waited for instruction from any of them.

The biggest man there, a redhead called Jirobou, left for a moment and then returned with two simple pair of cuffs. He latched Naruto's hands to the cuffs and then the second ring was attached to the pull-up bar. Naruto, being his short height, had barely any of his weight resting on his feet. Sure, he was on the flat of his feet, but if the bar was an inch taller, he would be hanging from his arms.

Sakon came closer. Naruto could now see his stringy silver hair and bright turquoise lips. He didn't look as fearsome as Orochimaru, but Naruto knew that he couldn't take him lightly, either. There was a certain cruelty glimmering in this man's eyes that the slave wished he could ignore. But it was still there. It was warning him that this man, with his stringy silver hair and bright turquoise lips, could be very dangerous.

"Soukyuu-chan, I advise you to brace yourself," Sakon told him in a slightly giddy tone.

Tayuya grinned at him – and what a scary smile it was. When she spoke, her harsh voice, mixed with sadistic glee, sent tremors throughout his body. "Right now, you will learn the _meaning_ of pain."

* * *

Haku closed the door to the master bedroom behind him. Sasuke was not waking up. They had sent for Tsunade, but she was in surgery and would be unable to come to the Manor for several hours. Shizune was helping her, so the assistant couldn't even come on her own.

The manservant sighed. His arm hurt. It wasn't broken, but in his enthusiasm to get free of the bonds Orochimaru had placed him in, he had seriously sprained his elbow. He could ignore the pain for now, however, because his thoughts were not focused on it, nor were they idly wandering on their on.

His thoughts were centered on Naruto. Where was the boy? Why did this have to happen to Naruto? Haku enjoyed having the boy around. Things had been brighter, better while he was here.

An example of that would be that Haku had seen Sasuke _smile_. Before the blonde slave had come to the house, he had never seen Sasuke even smirk very often. The brown-haired man sighed as he sat down in a chair. It wasn't long before two strong arms wrapped around him, hugging him close.

"Haku," a low, husky voice said. Haku smiled slightly as he looked up at his boyfriend, Zabuza.

"Zabuza-san," he whispered to the man.

Zabuza walked around the chair. He easily picked Haku up, taking his place in the chair and settling the manservant on his lap, being careful not to hit the injured elbow. Haku leaned into Zabuza's embrace, feeling an immense sadness wash over him.

Almost as if he could sense his boyfriend's feelings, Zabuza asked, "Haku? Are you okay?"

A broken sob emitted from the ex-slave's throat as he shook his head violently.

"He was raped. I was there and I couldn't do _anything_," he confessed sadly. "I wanted to help him, but I couldn't. I should have protected him more though. It's my fault that he's with Orochimaru now. All my fault."

Zabuza hugged Haku closed to him, trying to comfort the younger male but he didn't really know how to. "It's not your fault," he finally murmured in Haku's ear. "Naruto-san would be the first person to say so."

Zabuza knew this because he had run into Naruto a few times. From what Zabuza had seen, the boy was a bright, rambunctious teenager. Naruto and Zabuza were both naturally stubborn and so several arguments had erupted between them. They older man had enjoyed every last one of these "discussions."

* * *

Up in his room, Uchiha Sasuke woke up. He quickly untangled the covers from his body and got up. Stumbling over to the window, he looked outside. All he was able to see was the bright blue skies, free of even a small speak of cloud.

He smirked to himself, feeling a strange happiness fill him. _I should wake up Naruto. He loves days like today._

He was about to turn around, to walk to Naruto's room and wake the blonde up when his memory shook off the last bout of drowsiness. He froze, eyes widening as his memory reminded him of what had occurred.

Orochimaru had taken Naruto away from him, just like Itachi had stolen _that_ boy.

Sasuke sank to the floor in disbelief.

Why did it feel like he was repeating the past? The only difference was that instead of his elder brother giving him grief, it was his physics teacher. He sighed, wondering if he wanted to know why these things tormented him so. Hadn't he learned to control his emotions? Hadn't he made himself out to be what Naruto always deemed a "stoic bastard"?

What had changed that?

Sasuke didn't know. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know. He wasn't sure if he could ever understand the answers to the questions that revolved around his head. These thoughts made themselves into a torrent of nothingness, drowning him with confusion and a migraine.

And then something occurred to him.

This had happened twice, hadn't it? Was someone up there trying to tell him something?

Instead of crying – was this time supposed to be different?

Was there something Sasuke was supposed to do?

* * *

Haku looked fondly at his older boyfriend. He had calmed down considerably. Sighing to himself, he leaned against the older man.

"Zabuza-san?" he asked softly. The older man made a grunting noise to show that he had heard Haku. "Do you know what Sasuke-kun meant when he fainted?"

"What do you mean?"

"He screamed out 'Konran' before he lost consciousness."

Zabuza heaved a large sigh, his eyes clouding over in distant memory. "Konran-kun, eh?" he murmured, voice laden with emotions that his boyfriend couldn't even begin to name.

Haku nodded against his chest.

"That was years ago," Zabuza began his tale. For what he spoke was a tale, a story of events that took place in a time that was long gone; events that could only be remembered by those who had been there to see the after effects. It was a story.

"Shibuya Konran was a live-in servant. He moved in about eleven years ago. He was an orphan and had a striking resemblance to what Naruto looks like now. Konran-kun is the boy in the picture in Sasuke's parlor. Konran-kun was about Sasuke's age. He was hired to serve as a playmate to Sasuke."

The man spoke in such a grim manner that Haku knew that the story being told would not have a happy ending. It was a dreadful feeling, but the manservant wanted to know more. He wanted to know what this mysterious boy was like and what had ultimately happened to him.

"What happened?" he asked, eyes on Zabuza.

Zabuza paused before continuing his tale. "Itachi-sama got jealous. In Itachi's eyes, Sasuke belonged to him. No one else had any right to Sasuke, according to Itachi. When, in childhood innocence, Sasuke began to pay more attention to Konran-kun and less attention to Itachi, Itachi snapped. It happened when Sasuke was ten. Seven years ago. He had been with Konran for four years then. Well… when he saw that Sasuke was drifting away from him, Itachi eliminated the threat."

"Eliminated?" Haku echoed, his voice not rising above a whisper.

Zabuza nodded. "He raped and killed Konran while Sasuke was forced to watch. It caused Sasuke's mind to delete all the memories of Konran. All that's left for Sasuke are brief flashes and that picture. In seven years, he was never able to even remember Konran's name.

"Tsunade told all of us servants that it was better not to mention his name. So we didn't. There's only a few of us from that far back anyway."

Haku nodded as he listened to the end of Zabuza's explanation. He eyes were hooded as he digested the new information about his masters.

* * *

It hurt.

Every part of his body was in pain. There was nothing he could do anymore in regard to easing all of the pain. He wished he could just drift off into unconsciousness but every time he was about to do so, the infection that had set into some of his wounds would flare to life. It was overtaking him. This agony was conquering him.

"Soukyuu." The voice of his master cut through the boy's dulled senses.

The cerulean blue eyes that had bestowed upon him that name opened slowly. Or… one of them did. The other was swollen shut. Blearily, the dark room began to focus somewhat.

Naruto was back in his corner. He wasn't in the torture chamber anymore. That didn't make him any safer, though. It might have just hurt him more. The cold stone floor scraped against him, awakening the memories from his most recent torture.

"Wake up, my pet," the voice of Orochimaru made itself known again. Orochimaru knelt by the boy. His cool fingers lifted the slave's head up. "There, there, my pet," he whispered now, "Don't mind the pain. It will all go away soon."

The boy looked up at him through his uninjured eye. "Hurts, Master," he whimpered. "It hurts."

Orochimaru stared down at the boy. A triumphant grin overtook his features. "Does Soukyuu accept his station in life now?" the snake-like man asked.

Naruto tried to curl into himself, but that only made him shudder with pain. Stopping his movement, the pain eased slightly. Naruto tried to ignore everything around him. He didn't want to answer his master's question.

His silence earned him a harsh kick to the ribs, which were already overly abused. A hoarse yell exited his parched throat.

"I can make everything better, Soukyuu," Orochimaru told his captive. "But that can only happen if you can admit to what you really are." He paused. The blonde shuddered slightly. "Everyone else knows what you are. Now its your turn to admit it as well."

Naruto didn't want to say anything. He preferred to believe that he was as he was at Sasuke's house. He wasn't to believe that he wasn't Soukyuu anymore.

He couldn't be.

_So why are you here?_ A snide little part of his brain asked. _If you really were free, then what are you doing here?_

Naruto didn't want to answer that little voice in his head. He didn't want his station in life to always be a slave. He was free! Sasuke…

_If Sasuke cared so much about you – why are you still here? Wouldn't he have come to rescue you?_

_Stop it! Stop saying those things!_ Naruto screamed at the voice.

Luckily, everything became quiet in his head.

Unfortunately, Orochimaru was not happy with Naruto ignoring him. He looked down at the blonde, teeth bared in anger and annoyance.

Grabbing him by the collar, Orochimaru yanked the boy to his feet. Naruto winced as he received another scrape on his leg.

"Speak, boy, or I shall promise you more pain," the snake threatened.

Naruto shivered. His body was already broken. There wasn't anything to do when speaking like that, but there was no other way to look at it. His body had been used by others and abused by them. He still had his spirit though. That had not been broken.

In his head, he was still free.

Orochimaru threw the boy down on his stomach. The man unhooked the chain from the wall, dragging the boy with him. Naruto tried to get up on his feet but was only yanked forward by his master once again. It was like training a very defiant dog. Yet Orochimaru was sure that he would win in this fight. He would defeat this dog, no matter how much the blonde mutt resisted his teachings.

Naruto was taken up into the master bedroom of the house. He was thrown inside without any semblance of grace. Dried blood still stained his body. Cum from the snake's lackeys was all over his skin. He was truly a pitiful sight. Orochimaru would have to get his servants to clean the blonde.

But for right now, he was going to have his fun.

"Soukyuu," the man began tersely.

"Y-yes, Master?" the boy stammered.

He was afraid. That could not be ignored, yet something that was akin to pride entered him as well: a warm type of feeling that coursed throughout his entire structure. He was going to be punished by his master. That was how it should be.

That was how it had always been.

Sasuke's way of doing things was too kind, too idealistic for a slave purchased at Gatou's Auction House. It just wasn't possible for a slave to live like that. That's how someone with _freedom_ lived.

Naruto wasn't free. He couldn't be. He knew this now. Even when he was at Sasuke's, he hadn't been free,

This was the place he belonged. There was nothing else for him. Sasuke was unattainable. Sasuke was just a dream. He had to stop relying on dreams and forget all about them. It was for the best, as hard as it would be to let go of them.

Naruto felt the cold chain attached to his collar wrap around his wrists before being tied to a hook on the ceiling. With his hands now bound above him, Naruto could do nothing to stop Orochimaru's onslaught. The man seemed not to mind the disgusting fluids that covered his slim body as those pallid hands ran over every inch of Naruto. The boy shuddered. How could he accept this?

He was a slave. That was the answer to everything. Orochimaru's hands soon stopped roaming the stained skin. While one hand went down to grope the blonde's manhood, the other entered Naruto's mouth. Obediently, without realizing what he was doing, Naruto began to suck on the digits. He knew what was to come of this. It was inevitable. He might as well just learn to accept it. That was all he could do. He was a slave.

As soon as Orochimaru deemed his fingers to be properly lubricated, he took them out of Naruto's mouth. Slowly, he spread the boy's cheeks, inserting one digit into the sore and overused entrance. Naruto whimpered at the breach. He was sore and no matter how gentle Orochimaru was being at the moment, he doubted it could last.

Orochimaru soon inserted a second finger to join the first, scissoring and stretching the entrance for him. Naruto bit hard on his lip, trying to keep the tears and whimpers of pain back.

Orochimaru ran a finger of his other hand along the boy's cheek, making him look him in the eye. "Don't hold back, my dear," he cooed. "I want to hear you. All of you." While he was saying this, he put a third finger into Naruto. A half-sob came from the blonde. Orochimaru smiled as his hand caressed the blonde's whiskers. "There, there, my slave. It won't hurt for long."

Naruto wondered why Orochimaru was being so nice. It completely destroyed the heartless, greedy bastard image that he had always been to the blonde. This new side of Orochimaru confused him, made it as though Naruto had been wrong all of these years. But then why did he always hurt him before?

The boy's thinking was cut off when Orochimaru pilled out his fingers. A second later, his pushed his organ into the boy. Naruto screamed when he felt his skin rip, despite the fact that Orochimaru had taken time to stretch him. For once, he was glad for the chains that held him up, or the support of one of Orochimaru's hands holding his leg up to give his shaft better entry.

He gritted his teeth when he felt Orochimaru move inside of him. Slow shoves soon gave way to a faster pace. By the time Orochimaru had finished with him, Naruto was something along the lines of dead weight. He no longer had the strength to hold himself up anymore.

Orochimaru quickly got dressed after completely the sex, with the intention to shower in a bit. Calmly, he called for a servant It wasn't long before a young boy arrived, standing at ready for whatever Orochimaru was about to say.

"Since Shino is busy with my other merchandise, I would like you to call Iruka to take care of Soukyuu. He shall be placed in one of the slave quarters instead of the basement for now," Orochimaru ordered. He dismissed the slave and walked back over to Naruto. "I can be very nice when you admit to what you are. I'll give you some time before I'll ask you again. During this time, I will show you _exactly_ what it means to be obedient."

Orochimaru looked for any indication that Naruto had heard him. The boy had fainted from the pain. Orochimaru leaned over him, a strange gentleness to his movements.

The pale man brushed those matted golden locks aside and lightly kissed his forehead. "Soon, you'll realize just how much I love you."

_You were born into the world a situational Pariah  
__Spoke in tongues, misunderstood, like some unrecognized Messiah  
__At the bottom of the sea, I was bathed in your forgiveness  
__Now the world is split in three, leaving me your only witness  
__Is there proof you ever lived? Is there something more transcendent?  
__Will these moments die with me? Are they not so independent?  
__Could a child in five hundred years, be given recollection  
__Of you smile, of your eyes, through divinest intervention?_

_I will shout it from the mountain when your soul is taking flight  
__I will tell your tale in blood, I will keep your flame alight  
__And when I breathe away my strength, I'll find you in the white beyond  
__And from above, we'll make the rain to water mortal dreams at night_

_Do you feel the blood divide beneath your skin?  
__Dividing all to come and all that's been?  
__Do you see your own reflection when you stare into the blinding sun?_

_I am there  
__I am here  
__I look down upon every summit far below me  
__Snow untouched by fear  
__I am in the air now_

_Thou Shalt Not, The White Beyond_

_

* * *

Kyuubi-kun's Korner!_

_Hey, I hope all of you liked that chapter. It was only seven pages. Kind of short, but I felt that was a great place to end. No, I don't know what happened. I hope that all of your were surprised that the boy in the photograph was NOT Naruto… and don't worry, Konran's name is going to keep appearing throughout the fic. Now that his name is revealed, I no longer have to call him the blonde boy in the photograph. Damn, that's a long ass name. Anyways... before some of you think that "oh, Itachi was too young to rape someone when Konran was raped" I'll correct you. If Sasuke was ten, I'm putting Itachi at eighteen, which is plenty of hormones needed for my purposes. It also means that he's twenty-five now. So nyah!_

_The song this time is "The White Beyong" by one of my favorite bands ever, Thou Shalt Not. However, this song was hard to choose. I had contemplating using my second favorite song by Thou Shalt Not, called "100 Generations" or maybe "Inside of You, In Spite of You" but I didn't get the same feeling. Same with "The Weakness of Words." In fact, this chapter was supposed to have "The Weakness of Words" but then my CD switched to "The White Beyond" and I'd be damned if I didn't feel inspired for this chapter at that moment. So thanks to Thou Shalt Not for this chapter and the song. _

_I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and are willing to review. So click the button… clicky!_


	14. Obedience

_Yo! I'm here, with the next chapter of PSP! I hope you all like this one. I kind of do… because of my sadistic **and** fluffy sides come out in the chapter. I'm so proud of me ((does a happy dance))_

**Pain's Stoic Pleasures  
****Chapter Thirteen: Obedience**

Orochimaru looked out his window at the skies, black after the sun had set. He had long since taken a shower. He stared at those dark skies, wondering once again over his feelings for one Uzumaki Naruto.

The boy was so beautiful, so godlike, so… happy. Orochimaru had always seen Naruto with one of two emotions. When the snake was anywhere nearby the blonde, he would be filled with well-disguised terror. That used to make Orochimaru's manhood throb with pleasure.

And then Orochimaru had fallen for him.

He could remember that day very well. It was when Orochimaru had finally allowed the young boy out into the greenhouse with Shino. The slave had run to and fro, from flower to flower, admiring each blooming blossom.

The snake watched the small slave. There was a bright grin on his face and his cerulean blue eyes shined with happiness. Even though bandages wound about his slender form, he didn't seem to remember the long, grueling hours with Orochimaru that had caused those wounds.

Staring at that smile, Orochimaru had felt a tightening in his chest. He wanted to beat that feeling out of him. So, he had become even crueler to the blonde slave. The slave made him so confused, so tormented and this caused Orochimaru to be harsher with him.

But it still hurt. It still pained him to see those eyes! Those eyes that were wide and blue like the expansive summer sky. Why couldn't he get the boy out of his head? For years, he had questioned all of this – had wondered tirelessly for hours on end and still nothing came to answer him.

But distance was so much worse. It had only been two weeks that the boy had been at Uchiha Sasuke's. Those weeks had been hell.

Orochimaru constantly cursed himself. It was obvious. These emotions showed him how weak he was; how much his lust controlled him.

Yet thinking about it as much as he did during these two agonizing weeks, he had realized that it was not lust that controlled him. Something else had overtaken him, something that he knew almost nothing about. It was days later when the name of this feeling came to him. Love. Orochimaru was in love with Uzumaki Naruto. Once he realized this, he had done the only thing he could.

He had gotten Naruto back.

_Let the Uchiha brat come_, Orochimaru challenged the stars. _I am not going to allow him to steal the person I love most!_

* * *

Tsunade paled as she stared at the boy in front of her. "What did you say?" she breathed. Sasuke didn't look her in the eye. He focused on the wall instead. He had told Tsunade that Naruto had been taken. Right now, she seemed to be in a state of shock. Not wanting to answer her question, but knowing not to keep silent, he finally spoke.

"You heard exactly what I said," he whispered darkly. Glowering at the wall, he sighed tiredly. "I see no point in repeating it."

Tsunade sat there, stunned for a moment before pulling herself back together. "I see," she told him, voice and emotions kept under tight control. They didn't need to freak out not. They needed to think clearly in order to plan.

Sighing, Tsunade looked at Sasuke. According to the Uchiha, Naruto had been taken five days ago. Five long days. She noticed the bags under his eyes and how his skin stretched over his cheekbones.

"Sasuke?" she asked softly.

He looked at her through hooded eyes. He didn't say anything, just stared at her blankly.

She sighed, but went on with the questioning. "Who took him?"

"My physics teacher," the Uchiha growled almost inaudibly. He clenched his fists, digging his nails into his palms.

Tsunade didn't hear him. "What was that?" the lady continued to interrogate one of her frequent patients. "Do you know what their name is?"

Sasuke was about to tell her the name of Naruto's captor but something stopped him at the last second. He didn't know what it was at first. Then it suddenly dawned on him.

He wanted to retrieve Naruto himself. He knew not to think of it as "alone," because Haku was sure to accompany him whether he liked it or not. That wouldn't be the entire rescue party either. Zabuza would join them, simply for the fact that he would follow Haku anywhere.

Sasuke wanted Naruto back desperately. He wanted to hold the blonde like he had on the boy's first night, when they had cuddled themselves to sleep in the same bed. He wanted to find the slave with his own resources, his own information and connections.

He wanted to find the blonde boy that haunted him with every step he took. Naruto was out there, in the hands of that snake, Orochimaru. Sasuke wanted nothing more than to bring the boy home.

Without Tsunade's help.

The blonde doctor stared at him. "Sasuke," she said after taking a deep breath. "What is the name of this man?"

Sasuke looked at her, a bit of life back in his eyes. "No one that you need to know," he told her.

Tsunade looked puzzled when he said this. "What?"

"Tsunade-sama, I am going to recover Naruto on my own," he explained as calmly as he could. "He is my responsibility, so I…"

His words were cut short when Tsunade slapped him. She was seething with uncontrolled rage at being told to stay away from this.

"That's my grandson you're talking about!" she screamed.

Sasuke stared at her, the red mark on his cheek stinging sharply from her aggression. "Then you should not have stopped searching for him," the Uchiha sniped. "He was no longer your grandchild the minute you gave up on him."

Tsunade clenched and unclenched her fists, honey-brown eyes glaring at him with hatred. "I will give you one week, Uchiha," she snarled. "And then I am stepping in."

"I do not want you to step in," Sasuke told her again.

"And I am giving you one week before I do," she countered.

Sasuke could feel his temper rising, but with a few deep breaths, he managed to control it. "Fine, Tsunade. Now I am going to have to ask you to leave."

The woman did not protest as she stood up. Holding herself with as much dignity as she could muster, the doctor exited the room. Sasuke sighed, closing his eyes. He knew he had to think of a plan to get Naruto back. Before he had plotted very far, he sensed someone coming up behind him.

"Sasuke-kun?" Haku asked.

Sasuke opened his eyes, a hard glint in his gaze. "Contact Hyuuga Neji. I want him here tonight. Also, try and get a hold of a list of servants from Orochimaru's Manor. I need to know the names of everyone who is employed there. Find me the blueprints of the Manor in the attic. It was constructed by my father's company, so we should have records of it. Get me those as well."

Haku nodded and bowed, showing that he would do as asked. He left Sasuke there. Sasuke thought of Naruto once more, now that he was alone. There wasn't much else he could do. He couldn't tell himself to think of something else. He knew that if he did that, he would end up brooding about Naruto even more. It was better to just let his mind focus on what it would.

An image stirred itself from his memories. Sasuke closed his eyes in order to see this flashback better than with his eyes open.

_Sasuke was sitting on a couch, eyes closed and head tilted back. Naruto was currently taking a shower, so Sasuke could rest his eyes without the blonde nearby. _

_He didn't know for how long he sat there, unmoving, when he was interrupted by a weight on his lap. Looking down as he opened his eyes, he saw a bushel of blonde hair. Bright blue irises stared up at him. A small smile was on the slave's face. _

_"Hi," Naruto told him softly/._

_Sasuke stared down at the boy. He looked so innocent, lying there. The Uchiha noticed that the only thing covering him was a navy blue bathrobe but he didn't care much about it. He had seen Naruto naked, so this didn't matter much to him. _

_Naruto's smile faltered. "Did I… did I do something wrong?" he whispered when he got no reply from Sasuke. _

_Sasuke shook his head. A small smirk came to his lips as he leaned over and kissed the blonde slave's forehead. "You did nothing," he murmured to him, eyes staring at him kindly. "Nothing wrong."_

_Naruto smiled at the Uchiha. It was a genuine smile. Sasuke usually never saw this type of expression cross the boy's features. His smiles were sometimes strained, as though he only smiled so something else wouldn't happen. _

_"Hey, hey, Sasuke!" the blonde said excitedly. _

_"Hmm?" the Uchiha lazily replied._

_Naruto jumped up and grabbed the Uchiha's hand. He took Sasuke's hand and led him over to the window. "It's pretty out there." He paused for a moment before leaning his head onto the darker boy's shoulder. "What's it like?" The blonde's arms encircled his master's waist. _

_Sasuke moved his gaze from the view outside to the boy latched to his side. He smirked. Naruto saw this and pouted cutely, withdrawing his arms in order to cross them over his chest._

_"Don't laugh at me! It's not my fault I've never been outside during the day."_

_Sasuke nodded solemnly. What the blonde said was true. It wasn't Naruto's fault that his life had been full of pain and suffering. _

_"Would you like to go out there?" he asked the smaller boy._

_"You… you'd take me out there?"_

_"If you want to, of course."_

_Sasuke didn't have time to brace himself before Naruto knocked the both of them over in a tackling hug. "Thank you," he murmured, rubbing his cheek into Sasuke's shirt. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"_

_Sasuke smiled to himself as he wrapped his arms around the boy. He didn't know why but he wanted to make Naruto happy. Sighing to himself, Sasuke reveled in the warmth of the other. He reveled in the feeling that he was needed here, that he wasn't just a person putzing through life and doing nothing._

_Naruto needed him. Little did the blonde know just how much Sasuke needed him too._

Sasuke smiled inwardly. Naruto had been happy to be able to go outside. The Uchiha remembered walking through the property, hand in hand. He could hear the blonde's voice in his head. It smiled, laughed, pouted, stuttered and warmed him to the very tips of his toes.

When Naruto had been here, he had been happy. For the first time in his life, Sasuke had been able to show his true emotions to another human being. This confused him, but it also enticed him to know more about what he was feeling.

Not even Konran made him feel this way and at one time, Konran had been everything to him. Konran had taught him that life could be fun, but it was Naruto that showed him that all things could be free if one had courage enough to smile and believe.

Of course, not all of Sasuke's memories with Naruto were happy. In two weeks, Sasuke could remember more ups and downs than he had experienced in his entire life. He thought of that as a good thing. It meant he was learning what Naruto had to teach him.

Even though the boy was illiterate and didn't know much on the intellectual level in things like mathematics, he knew more about humans than anyone else Sasuke had encountered. Another memory tugged at Sasuke's consciousness, taking him back to a time when he was with Naruto.

_"Sasuke?" the blonde boy called, running into the room to see the Uchiha. "Sasuke!"_

_Sasuke had been annoyed that day. He didn't know why. It had just been a horrible day for him. And here was Naruto, with a broad grin on his face when he had absolutely no reason to smile. _

_"How?" he whispered menacingly. _

_Naruto stared at him, completely clueless. "How what?" he wanted to know._

_"How can you be able to smile and be happy like that?" the Uchiha yelled. He stood, knocking something off his desk. He glared at the boy. _

_Naruto stared at his master, fear evident in his azure eyes. Suddenly, he did something that Sasuke had not expected. _

_He smiled. A small smile, so pure and soft it made Sasuke's heart ache. He nodded slightly and his eyes glistened. Then he spoke, astounding Sasuke even more with his words. _

_"Because no matter what happens to me, I can't stop loving people. I can't stop wanting to see new things and find out new stuff. People – they walk around, talk with each other and laugh. I find them beautiful. I don't know why I'm so happy but someone may be out there, waiting for me. As long as I believe that, I can be happy." A tear leaked out of his eye and Sasuke got the sinking feeling that Naruto didn't truly believe it anymore. He shook his head, trying to clear his mind again. "And as long as I'm happy, I can love people."_

_Sasuke stared at Naruto, who was smiling again. When Naruto realized what he had just said, h4e blushed. Sasuke watched as those scarred cheeks reddened and the blonde's mouth curved upwards in a goofy grin. The Uchiha just stared at him in disbelief. He didn't understand where the slave got his optimism or his happiness or his love for people. He didn't really understand anything about all, of that._

_All he saw was Naruto's smile, apologetic and sheepish. Sasuke felt his anger leave him as he stared at that cute expression of embarrassed happiness. He felt… complete, which was an utterly new feeling for him. _

_He liked it, this new feeling that entered his chest and warmed him. The blonde idiot in front of him was a mystery, something that Sasuke couldn't figure out. For once, he didn't care about that._

_He felt that as long as Naruto was with him and was happy, then that would be enough. As long as Naruto could smile and laugh, then that was enough. _

_This was enough._

Sasuke sighed, clearly remembering all of the feelings he felt when he had lived that moment. He knew what all of this was, what it all meant. He was in love with Naruto. There was no denying that.

The length of time spent with a person meant nothing if you truly loved that person. Time was nothing if you were willing to do anything for that person.

Sasuke had seen Naruto laugh, cry, get angry and tons of other emotions. He had watched the boy's peaceful face while he slept. His hands had traced the curves of those scars, that nose and those lips so much that he could sculpt the body from memorization. But if he did, it would all be in vain. A statue could never convey how much emotion poured out of the boy every waking second of the day or the beautiful aura he gave off when he closed his eyes for the night.

Such things were impossible to put into charming words or art. No imitation could ever measure up to the real boy.

Soon, even these memories would not be enough. Sasuke wanted to recover Naruto in order to make new memories with him; memories that wouldn't fade away with time. Sasuke wanted to make sure that he would be able to make newer, better memories to replace those that he lost.

Naruto had said that somewhere there was a person just for him.

Sasuke wanted to be that person.

* * *

Naruto looked around him. The place where Orochimaru wanted him to stay was nice. It wasn't fancy, but it was nice. He had the bare necessities and that was all. He couldn't go anywhere, but at least he wasn't attached to a cold stone wall by a collar.

There was nothing in the room that Naruto could use in order to escape. Absolutely nothing. Everything was too heavy to lift, even the chair by the desk.

The blonde was laying on the bed. He didn't care for much right now. He knew that whatever was going to happen, would happen. He didn't have any control over this. He couldn't change anything about is predicament. He couldn't change anything about his station in life.

He knew that he should just accept completely that he was a slave but something made him not want to. Something kept him from understanding that he was a slave. He didn't get a chance to muse anymore on this, as he heard the click of the bolt being drawn back on the door. He didn't even glance to see who it was. Whoever it was would make their presence known. Naruto didn't need to know who had entered until it was absolutely unavoidable.

"Are you inviting me, Soukyuu-kun," Orochimaru whispered to the silence of the room. Naruto could imagine the smirk that must be placed over his features at the current moment.

"No," the boy said in a flat tone.

"Lying naked on a bed seems like an invitation to me."

"I wouldn't be naked if my Master gave my some clothes, now would I?" the blonde retorted.

Orochimaru smiled. The boy had yet to look at him. It was good to know that his underlings had not broken Naruto's spirit. Orochimaru did not come across many who would openly defy him. To get such behavior from a _slave_ of all things was interesting at the very least.

"You are such a cute child, Soukyuu-kun," Orochimaru told him. The snake sat on the bed beside the blonde. Stroking, the blonde's skin, Orochimaru could feel himself becoming excited by the boy's flesh.

Leaning over, Orochimaru kissed the boy. "You are mine. _My_ azure skies," he growled possessively.

Naruto stiffened when he heard the man speak, but he didn't cry or utter a sound. The time for defiance was over. All he had now was compliance. Let the snake man do what he wanted to his body. Naruto didn't care about it anymore. As long as the torture was over soon, the blonde didn't care.

Orochimaru's mouth began to attack the slave's neck. As he had been taught, Naruto made small noises whenever his Master brushed one of his sensitive spots. He could feel Orochimaru's smirk on his skin. He tried to ignore it and tried to imagine that it was Sasuke he was with, but even in his own mind, he couldn't convince himself of the Uchiha's presence.

Orochimaru abandoned his ministrations on the boy's neck. The boy's eyes were closed, his luscious mouth set in a grim line. Orochimaru pulled himself up to the blonde's lips once again, delving his tonight into the crevice. He pulled back a moment later.

"Won't you open your eyes, Naruto-kun?" Orochimaru asked softly.

Naruto's eyes snapped open. Where had Orochiamru learned his first name? Or, for that matter, his name in general?

"Where?" he asked, his voice tight as he tried to control his fear, anger and other emotions.

"Itachi-san told me," Orochimaru replied, licking at the blonde's chin. "Itachi-san actually told me exactly how to get into the Uchiha Mansion. He didn't like you being with his brother so I offered to take you away."

Naruto looked at him, at the strange desire in the man's eyes. "Why do you continuously do this to me?" he whimpered.

"To one day show you how much I love you," was the snake's whispered reply.

Naruto froze. This wasn't love. This couldn't be love. But was it actually love? Naruto didn't know what this thing called Love was. He tried to remember if he had ever had any encounters with it and came up blank. He had heard it from Gatou's customers. Some loved their wives, some their children and some loved other things. Yet not one person had even bothered to tell him was this "Love" was.

The blonde slave wanted to ask his Master was he was talking about but was stopped when Orochimaru thrust himself into the boy. Naruto clawed at the man's shoulders, tears prickling at his eye. He could hear Orochimaru's groans as the snake bit onto the boy's earlobe.

"Beg for me," Orochimaru whispered. He raked his nails down Naruto's scabbed and injured chest. "Scream, slave."

Feeling humiliation because of the orders, Naruto still knew that he had to obey. Taking half a second to bite his lip, he obeyed his Master.

"More," he moaned as Orochimaru thrust again.

"Louder, my Naruto," the man snarled.

Allowing the pain he felt to spur his voice, Naruto began to shout at the top of his lungs. "Fuck me! Fuck me harder! More!"

Orochimaru grinned, biting lightly on the boy's neck as he thrust in again. Naruto let out a cry of pain but knew Orochimaru wanted more.

"Don't ever stop! I like it rough! Do me harder!" the blonde was screaming, tears falling down his cheeks, mingling with the sweat that gathered on the flushed skin. "Please." A broken sob came from his throat, no matter how much he tried to push it down. "I love it when you do me, Master! Please, fuck me harder! Don't stop!"

Naruto slid his eyes shut, still screaming for more vigor from his Master.

_This is where I belong. I deserve all of this._

He heard Orochimaru grunt in his ear.

_I can't change this._

The snake's tongue was again on his neck, creating long trails of saliva on the sweaty flesh.

_I was stupid to think I could change who I am._

With a loud cry, the older man released his seed inside of Naruto's torn entrance.

_I am a slave. Te Fates aren't kind enough to change my permanent path of life._

Taking himself out of the younger man, Orochimaru put his clothes back on and left the room. He made sure to lock the door behind him, as he wouldn't want his lover to escape from him.

Naruto stared at the ceiling blankly, unable to do anything. His body was sore and his spirit was near dead. He didn't want to be alive for much longer. He didn't want to have to go through anything else, but he knew he would. He knew the tortures would never stop. After all, he was a slave and slaves had to obey their Master's every whim or face punishment. Sometimes they got punishment even without having done anything wrong. Such was the life of a slave.

And Uzumaki Naruto was a slave.

* * *

Orochimaru sneered to himself as he took the call from Uchiha Itachi. Looking at the younger face on the visual, his sneer soon turned into a triumphant smirk.

"Itachi-san," he said silkily. "To what do I owe the honor of speaking with you once again?"

Itachi merely nodded his greeting. "I trust you have recovered the Uzumaki boy without making it known that it was you."

Orochimaru smiled. "Why would you say a thing like that?" he asked.

"I don't want Sasuke to be following you," Itachi explained calmly. "It would prove to be difficult for my plans."

"Maybe next time, you should inform me that your plans require secrecy."

Itachi narrowed his eyes. "You know that Sasuke will be coming after you."

Orochimaru smiled deviously. "Oh, I know he shall be coming. And I have plans to welcome him to my home."

Itachi glared. "Yes, plans," he murmured, then his eyes bored into Orochimaru's. "I'm warning you, though. You are not allowed to touch Sasuke in any way that you would do with Naruto."

"That is not part of my plans," Orochimaru assured the other. "Believe me, I would not want to impose Itachi-san's infamous wrath upon myself."

Itachi nodded once more and cut the communication. Orochimaru leaned back in his chair, laughing maniacally.

He couldn't wait until Sasuke got here. Then he would show that boy was it was like to be a Master of another human being. And, for safety reasons, he would be doing this without actually touching Sasuke.

_Come, my prey, I am growing bored,_ Orochimaru thought.

_

* * *

Master, master, where's the dreams that I've been after?  
__Master, master, you promised only lies  
__Laughter, laughter, all I hear and see is laughter  
__Laughter, laughter, laughing at my cries_

_Hell is worth all that, natural habitat  
__Just a rhyme without a reason  
__Neverending__ maze, drift on numbered days  
__Now your life is out of season_

_Taste me you will see  
__More is all you need  
__You're dedicated to  
__How I'm killing you_

_Come crawling faster  
__Obey your master  
__Your life burns faster  
__Obey your master  
__Master_

_Metallica__, Master of Puppets_

_

* * *

Kyuubi-kun's Korner!_

_Allright__, I hope you people were satisfied with that nine-page long chapter. In my notebook it was twelve pages, so I thought it was longer than this. Anyways, I hope that everything made sense. Wheeee. _

_All right, I'm going to be honest with everyone. I'm running out of songs to use. If anyone has any songs they would like to suggest to me for the endings of these chapters, please **EMAIL** me… I will **NOT** listen to the song if you just mention it in a review. _

_Thanks for reading. _

_Ciao._


	15. Better Times

_After a long ass hiatus, I'm back, ready for action and needing sex. Wait… cross that last one out, I REALLY need sex. _

_Ahem, you all didn't hear me say that – after all, it's not strange for a seventeen year old teenager to not want sex, is it? Exactly right, its not! Now, don't look at me with that tone of eyes! It's scary! Here's the next chapter for all of you to enjoy.  
_  
**Pain's Stoic Pleasures  
Chapter Fourteen: Better Times**

Naruto sighed to himself, suppressing a small shudder of some emotion that he couldn't even name. He was lying outside on the grass on the rolling lawns of Orochimaru's estate. The early afternoon sun beat down upon him, letting him laze, letting him remember. Days, weeks had passed since Naruto had come to this place against his will. When he had first come here, the slave had tendered the tiny speck of hope that Sasuke would come for him.

That light was all but gone. He could only guess that months may have passed – and there was still no word from Sasuke.

However, things were not as bad as they once were. There had been several improvements in his life at Orochimaru's Manor. He was given a much larger room, which was always somewhat appreciated. He was given many sets of clothes. They were even washed once a week. Naruto was permitted to wear these clothes and to wander freely about the estate as long as he reported to Orochimaru's chambers each night at eight o'clock, except for Sundays. For some reason, Orochimaru told Naruto not to come by on Sundays. Sometimes, Naruto would be there but Orochimaru wasn't. He would be caught up in a meeting or some other important thing that required his attention. On these nights, the blonde was sent back to his room to do whatever he pleased until sleep came over him.

It had become a sort of routine. Yet he at least had some measure of freedom. In his mind, he knew he could never forget Sasuke, but he had to live in the moment. Sure, he enjoyed himself more when there was actually company around his age, but he had to obey his Master's orders.

He could never leave here, Orochimaru whispered to him every night right before he slept. He also murmured of how much the slave belonged to Orochimaru.

He felt a tightness in his throat, completely unrelated to emotions. Another thing that Naruto had to do in order to gain his somewhat freedom was to wear the thin metal collar inscribed with "Uzumaki Soukyuu." It was to be worn at all times, except for when it needed to be cleaned. At such times, he was forced to wear a simple nylon collar to replace the metal one for a short period of time.

Standing up, Naruto brushed the dirt off his clothes. By the warmth spreading over his being, he knew it was still early to mid-afternoon. Bored, he decided it was about time to make his way back to the Manor. He was actually pretty good at slipping into the house unseen.

Today, however, he was stopped by a maid.

"Soukyuu-san," she said, interrupting his escape to the room he was assigned.

"Yes?" the boy asked, turning to meet the eye of the maid. He knew this girl… he just couldn't remember her name!

As though reading his mind, she spoke again. "Maria's my name, Soukyuu-san."

"Thank you," he answered. Naruto was able to get along with most of the staff at this place. They mostly pitied him, but treated him as one of them. And he was one of them. They all served Orochimaru too, just in different ways. Each of them had a job in this household. Naruto just happened to be a little bit more on the intimate level with their collective master.

"Orochimaru-sama wanted you to meet someone," Maria told him.

Naruto looked at her strangely. "Who?"

Maria shrugged her shoulders. "I'm sorry, but I do not know. Lucietta sent me to get you," she explained softly.

"Then, by all means, Maria," he grinned slowly. "Lead me to him and his guest."

Maria smiled sympathetically at Naruto. She knew that Naruto loathed his job as Orochimaru's pet. There was nothing that a lowly maid could do to help him, though. Slowly, she led the Master's prized pet to Orochimaru's study. Knocking quietly on the door, the familiar voice of the snake bade them to enter.

Maria walked in first. "I've brought Soukyuu-sama, sir," she told her Master, who was sitting at his desk. The guest was sitting in a comfortable chair whose back was facing towards the door.

"Allow him to enter," he said. "And then leave us."

She curtsied. Opening the door a bit wider, she beckoned Naruto inside.

The blonde stepped through, bowing respectfully to Orochimaru. He heard the door click shut behind him, signifying Maria's flight from the scene.

"Soukyuu-kun," Orochimaru began. Naruto looked up at him. "I would like you to meet a business friend of mine. Itachi-san, this is Soukyuu." He gestured to the man in the chair, urging this stranger to stand and look at the slave.

The man in the chair calmly placed his teacup down. He stood up regally, turning to look at the boy. Naruto froze when he saw the face. Although it had aged, Naruto had seen it in a family portrait that Sasuke had hidden behind a curtain in his study.

"I am Uchiha Itachi," the man said, his crimson eyes studying the blonde. "Interesting… doesn't he look a lot like his father, Orochimaru-san?"

"Yes," the snake answered with a smirk. "It's one of the reasons I purchased him to begin with."

At the introduction of the man's name, a scene flashed in Naruto's memory. He could hear the argument between Orochimaru and Haku on the day that he was kidnapped from the Uchiha manner.

_What the fuck are you doing here? If Sasuke-kun or Itachi-sama learned of-_

Itachi was the one that invited me, boy. 

Eyes wide, Naruto stared at this man – who was so ethereally beautiful, but there was danger to every beauty. Naruto, being a thing of beauty himself, knew that more than anyone else. He knew that this man couldn't be trusted. His instincts were telling him so. There was nothing that he could do in order to change that, so he slowly backed up away from this Uchiha.

Itachi just moved closer. Before long, the Uchiha had managed to close the distance in between the two in order to grab the blonde's chin. "I suggest you listen to me, child," he growled to the boy.

Naruto wondered what he was talking about. Why did he want Naruto to listen to him so badly? He didn't have anything bad happening with him, did he? Had he offended this crazed and frightening man someway or another? He didn't know, and didn't exactly know if he wanted to find out about it as well.

He froze though, something telling him not to aggravate this man too much. He didn't seem like the type of individual that one wanted to cross paths with normally. It was a scary feeling, but Itachi was a scary individual.

"Orochimaru-san," Itachi barked harshly. The snake looked at the Uchiha expectantly.

"Yes, Itachi-san," he replied.

"Leave us," Itachi growled. He crimson eyes bored into Naruto's cerulean ones. "We have much to… _discuss_."

Orochimaru seemed hesitant to leave Itachi with his slave, but after a moment, he shrugged and left the study. After all, Itachi was powerful, more so than Orochimaru and he was conniving in trying to get what he pleased. There wasn't much that Orochimaru could do in order to stand against him. He could just let Itachi do what he wanted with Naruto. After all, the boy was his for eternity… one night with someone else (just as long as it _wasn't_ Sasuke) could be overlooked. Squaring his shoulders, the pallid man nodded and left the room.

"I shall be in my room. If you have need of me, send Maria to contact me," he said before leaving. Itachi nodded at him and waited for him to leave before turning back to Naruto.

"So you are the whore that my brother has been so interested in lately," Itachi told Naruto, stroking his cheek lightly with his thumb.

Naruto shrugged. He had a vague idea about what Itachi was talking about, but nothing definite. He didn't know whether he was supposed to respond or just supposed to let the man talk himself out. Naruto couldn't read this crimson-eyed stranger like he could read most people. He didn't know why this man was such an enigma, but it scared him more than it intrigued him.

Itachi leaned over, his crimson eyes burning holes into Naruto's. The blonde couldn't understand what this man wanted of him. He felt like an amateur slave again, who didn't know what to do. Why did this man inspire this uncertainty in him? He was the Number Two slave at Gatou's! He should be sure of his abilities.

"Should be" being the key words there…

--------

Sasuke looked at the workload he had on his desk. None of it actually dealt with the company he shared with his brother. All of it was for his plans to help get his Naruto back. He knew he needed to take Orochimaru by surprise. That much was certain. However, he didn't know how he would do this.

In front of him lay lists of people that visited the snake's house in the last two weeks, as well as a list of servants. A majority of the desk was taken up by a detailed blueprint of the house. He had scrawled notes on everything that was before him. Around a certain name was a large, bolded red circle.

It seemed that his big brother visited Orochimaru's on a somewhat regular basis. He had never known of this before and so he found it interesting that Itachi was on a familiar basis with Orochimaru. It also scared him, to some extent, that this was so.

Tapping his pen on his leg, he went over the list of visitors again and a name that he had skipped over somehow jumped out at him. He quickly underlined it as a smirk came to his face.

"Tsunade-sama knows Orochimaru too?" he murmured slightly to himself. "Then, for Naruto's sake, I suppose I could use her help."

He pressed the button on his phone that connected him with Haku's beeper. He knew that the manservant would appear soon. Sighing to himself, he leaned back in his chair, casually tapping his pen against the edge of his desk. He was a genius, so why was this particular plan so hard for him to figure out. Oh well, he supposed that with Tsunade here, the two of them would be able to come up with something much better than what he had been able to do alone.

A few minutes later, Haku did show up. He slammed open the door, a broad grin on his face. Sasuke felt a headache coming on, just from the loud opening of the door.

"You're alive!" Haku called out happily. Sasuke stared at him for a moment, but noticed the deep concern that was in those chocolate-brown eyes. He must have worried his staff, the Uchiha realized. How long had he been trapped in this study? He didn't even know anymore.

"Haku, this is no time for celebration," Sasuke reprimanded, but without conviction. "I need you to contact Tsunade-sama as quickly as you can. I want her in my study as soon as possible. In order to get her to hurry up, tell her that the matter concerns her grandson, all right?"

Haku nodded, a relieved grin on his face. His employer had locked himself in his room for three days, only coming out for a drink or two and the bathroom. The entire staff was worried about him, as they all actually enjoyed working at this household.

Seeing Sasuke finally becoming active gave Haku hope again. Maybe the Uchiha was returning to the person that Haku had just barely been able to glimpse during the short time when Naruto was here.

------

Naruto looked into the crimson eyes of Uchiha Itachi. Who could have ever guessed that Sasuke's brother would be a sadist? The two were like complete opposites and Naruto definitely found out that he preferred the younger of the two. He didn't like this man. He didn't like this man at all.

His hands were bound over his head, the rope tied to the chandelier in the middle of the ceiling. Naruto had found out quickly how much Itachi loved to cause pain. He wanted to give his partner as much pain as he could possibly dole out. The blonde shivered slightly as he felt the cold steel of the Uchiha's knife press against his skin. He hated the feeling of metal against his flesh. Naruto was currently devoid of all clothing, save for the thin metallic collar around his neck. Itachi had gone a step farther with this and actually attached a cockring to the collar via a strip of black leather.

Naruto hissed slightly as the blade grazed off some of his skin, allowing a thin string of blood to fall sluggishly down his torso. Naruto could see his tormentor, as the man clung to the dim shadows, fully clothed, and with a malicious smile on his face.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked softly, eyes boring into Naruto's.

Naruto shook his head slowly. He didn't know for _certain_ who this man was. All he had were a few educated guesses.

"You really don't know?" the Uchiha asked as his hand ran softly over the younger boy's manhood. The Uchiha teased Naruto without mercy. The blonde felt a moan surpass his lips as he shook his head again in answer.

"Then protocol says that I must introduce myself," Itachi whispered. "I am Uchiha Itachi. My younger brother was the master that Orochimaru stole you from." Here, Itachi began to stroke the blonde's chest with his knife. Shallow cuts appeared all over the bronze skin. A few of them leaked blood. "I ordered him to do so."

Naruto looked up to the other, eyes widened with shock. "Why?" he asked, earning himself a deep gash right below the collarbone. Surprising even himself, Naruto didn't care about it and proceeded to question Itachi. He wanted to know why this man thought that he wasn't supposed to be around Sasuke. He wanted to know why there was such a problem with himself. "Why?" he repeated.

Itachi slashed him across the left eye this time. "Those reasons are not for you to know… _Naruto_," he whispered. Naruto gasped at hearing his own name used, but the rational part of his mind told him that he shouldn't be so stunned, as Orochimaru already knew of it and therefore could have told Itachi.

"You see, Naruto-kun, I do not need my little brother consorting with the likes of your dirty blood," the man sneered.

Naruto's eyes widened as memories flashed behind them, overtaking his conscious and tossing him back to a time where he never wanted to return. Being a slave, a whore was better than that place. Being what he was, as disgusting as it seemed, was better than these memories.

-------

Sasuke sighed, looking at the older woman that was standing in front of him. She was smirking at him. Sometimes, Sasuke would wonder why he consorted with the likes of Tsunade, but those thoughts would have to be saved for later. After all, right now, he needed her help to recover Naruto.

He was startled out of his reverie by Tsunade's voice. "So, you finally realized that you'll need my help," she sneered softly.

"Only because you know Orochimaru," Sasuke countered, trying to make it seem as though he was annoyed rather than angry. "And you visit him often enough."

Tsunade didn't even look perturbed at the fact that Sasuke had checked up on her or Orochimaru's latest visitors, as she had visited him only a few days before. If he hadn't, then she probably wouldn't even be here offering her help which he needed. She would deem him too stupid for the mission and do it all herself.

"I'm surprised that you willingly came to me," she remarked airily. Sitting down on a couch, she beckoned him to her side. He quickly came over, not wanting to delay anything. "Do you have a plan?"

Sasuke shook his head. "I only have a few ideas," was his answer. "Nothing completed."

"Well," Tsunade began, adopting her normal attitude once again. "Tell me what you have and we'll work from there."

Sasuke nodded and began to tell her all that he knew.

-----

Naruto's eyes were wide with fear. Although he could never remember anything specific and images were forever lost to him, but words were different. Words would always stay with him, driving him with long tones until he went completely insane.

_"Why were you born! Why did I have to bear a monster like you! Get away from me! GET AWAY!"_

Naruto closed his eyes, trying to shut out the voices that were so determined to haunt him.

_"Look what you did to your mother, you little shit. I still don't see why the family wants to keep you alive. You don't deserve to live. You're blood is dirty blood."_

Why wouldn't these voices leave him? He was already going through a physical trial, so why did a mental one have to be added on as well?

Itachi was studying him. Naruto was vaguely aware of this, too lost in his own thoughts to dwell on it for very long. The Uchiha didn't seem to take his eyes off the blonde.

It was as though he enjoyed seeing Naruto suffer, even if he didn't know the reason why.

Naruto didn't know why… didn't really care to know why. He just wished that this night would be over and he would be left alone for the rest of his time on earth. He knew that would never happen, but wishes weren't supposed to come true. That's why they were called wishes.

Unfortunately, the night dragged on, with both the voices and Itachi tormenting him until Naruto broke and tears cascaded down his face.

------

_I had visions, I was in them  
I was looking into the mirror  
To see a little bit clearer  
The rottenness and evil in me_

_Fingertips have memories  
And I can't forget the curves of your body  
And when I feel a bit naughty  
I run it up the flagpole and see  
Who salutes, but no-one ever does_

_I'm not sick, but I'm not well  
And I'm so hot, 'cause I'm in hell_

-LIT, _I'm not sick, but I'm not Well_

-----

**_Kyuubi-kun's Korner!_**

_Sorry for the lack of updating. I've just had a lot to do lately and no inspiration. However, although this chapter isn't that long, I feel as though its important and its setting things into motion, so this fic… should be over soon. Don't take my word for it though. I hope I have the ability to end it soon. Although I love all of your reviews, I still need for this fic to be good in my own standards, and if it drags on too much, I'll hate it. The only fic like that that I don't hate is I Bleed Black, but that's all. _

_Well, I hoped you enjoyed this. I hope to have the next one out soon but I don't make any promises there._

-----

EDIT 1/2/2007: I finally got around to correcting the song lyrics. I accidentally had the wrong band and title listed before, but it's fixed now. Sorry about that.


	16. Give Me Back My Horizon

_Hey, guess what? I'm trying not to take as long with my updates as I've been doing in the past few months. So, I'm really trying to update a few of my fics. This is just one of them… and it was the first paper I reached. See, I have the beginnings of the chapters written down, I'm just extremely lazy when it comes to typing them up, but y'know… whatever. I'm back, hopefully._

**Pain's Stoic Pleasures  
****Chapter Fifteen: Give Me Back My Horizon**

* * *

Naruto stared around him. Even though he was locked in his room, alone and slightly frightened of whether Itachi would come back, he found himself feeling as though he were trapped in a dream. There was something in the back of his mind which was trying to wake him up, make him notice something that wasn't supposed to be there. But Naruto was too tired, too cold for that right now. It had only been a few hours since Itachi left.

Naruto was in no mood for _anything_. Maria had tried to bring him food and drink. He wouldn't speak to her, wouldn't touch the food. He wouldn't do anything unless he was _ordered_ to do it. This was so unlike him… but that was how he was at the moment.

Again his mind tried to get him to listen… listen to what was coming. Naruto didn't believe this could be real. The voices that he could faintly hear were just too far out of his reach – he wasn't supposed to hear that voice ever again.

As he sat with his back against the door, he thought he could faintly make out Sasuke's voice. But that was impossible. Sasuke would never come for him. That boy was too high above him, too bright for someone like Naruto to even hope to draw near.

On top of Naruto's own insecurities about even going near Sasuke, there was Itachi to worry about. The older Uchiha had warned him against being near his brother. Naruto hated listening to his tormentors but he knew that Itachi was not someone to cross or disobey if he wanted to continue to live.

The boy could still hear the warnings the man had given him when he left his torn and broken body behind that morning. Naruto hadn't been able to move. He was worn out – both mentally and physically and Itachi was not one to be reckoned with. Even if he was the second best whore that Gatou had to offer, he was still no match for Itachi's cruelty.

That morning, he couldn't move, couldn't think, and would only do something when someone told him to do it. He was no longer defiant, even a little bit; he was now the ideal whore that Gatou and Orochimaru had worked for years on trying to make him into. Where both of them failed, Itachi had succeeded. He would no longer ask stupid questions or try to resist anything.

The spark of life that made him Naruto rather than just Soukyuu was gone. It had vanished.

The voice from his dreams was louder – Sasuke's voice was loud. At the same time, Itachi's warning clamored in his head.

_If you dare to go near my brother again, what you have experienced tonight will be nothing compared to what I will put you through._

Suddenly, the lock on his door clicked open. The blonde scrambled to get away. He was shivering, terrified at the prospect of Itachi returning for some reason or another.

His rapid heartbeat calmed slightly when he saw that it was Orochimaru at the door. There was something strange about the snake though. He was quieter and his movements were more urgent than normal. Naruto didn't think that he had ever seen Orochimaru this excited before.

"Naruto-kun," he whispered, clipping a leash onto the collar that Naruto wore. "Come, we must hurry. Our guests are waiting."

"Guests, Master?" Naruto asked. There was an innocently curious expression on his face.

Orochimaru smiled when he looked at his slave. "You really are too cute," he said. A second later, he leaned over and kissed Naruto. Naruto didn't resist. After his night with Itachi, he didn't think he could resist a Master as kind as Orochimaru again.

Sure, a part of him still forever longed for the freedom he would never have. However, that was mostly just because he was human. He was now fully and completely resigned to his fate.

Now, he could only hope to become the best whore he could be and please his Master in hopes that his Master would never become bored of him and toss him aside.

Orochimaru sighed as he drew back from the kiss. "Damn that Itachi," he hissed angrily. Naruto was confused. Why was Master damning Itachi? "It looks like he's completely ruined you."

Naruto didn't understand this statement. He didn't even have the faintest idea as to what Orochimaru meant by it. Shrugging his shoulders a bit, he leaned forward to the hand that held his leash and kissed the fingertips gently.

Orochimaru appeared to be deep in though, but he stared at Naruto as though he were an alien when the boy began to suck lightly at the digits.

"Itachi really did go too far," the snake growled. He put a hand delicately on the boy's golden locks. "Come, Naruto. We shouldn't keep guests waiting."

Naruto nodded in understanding as he followed Orochimaru noiselessly out of the room.

**

* * *

Sasuke felt like an idiot. That was the only way to put anything he had done. Even though he and Tsunade had orchestrated the perfect plan to get Naruto out, the moment he saw Orochimaru – with the smug smirk on his face – he had lost it.**

So here he was now, sitting in a chair surrounded by Orochimaru's bodyguards. There was one female in them, but he recognized most of them because he had seen them in the names that he got from his sources.

Tsunade looked at him from where she was sitting. She had a scowl upon her features and Sasuke couldn't blame her. However, he also didn't care. Let her be pissed off with him. He didn't care. He only cared about whether Naruto was okay or not.

_I'm not losing someone like I lost Konran,_ he thought to himself as he waited for Orochimaru to return. The man had gone off, saying that he would be back quickly. However, every second was like an eternity to the Uchiha and quickly wasn't fast enough for him.

_There's really only one good thing_, he mused. _Itachi isn't here. That way I can't lose Naruto exactly like I lost Konran._

Sasuke sighed. Couldn't Orochimaru hurry and up and return already? The man was being insanely rude to his guests. Well, granted that he really wasn't a guest, more like a trespasser, but that didn't matter. It really didn't matter to Sasuke what he could be classified as.

He just wanted to see Naruto. He wanted to know if Naruto was okay.

The door to the room opened. Sasuke glanced in that direction in order to know who was entering. In stepped Orochimaru. Naruto followe4d close behind, attached to a leash that Orochimaru was holding.

"Naruto!" the Uchiha let out, quickly standing up. Sakon, one of Orochimaru's bodyguards, pushed him back down. He glared at the silver-haired man. How he wanted to go over and embrace Naruto, make sure this wasn't an illusion, make sure the boy was okay. However, with Sakon guarding him, he didn't think that was possible.

_Dammit_, he cursed softly in his head. He scowled at Orochimaru.

Orochimaru merely smirked back. Naruto stared, surprised, from Sasuke to Tsunade and back again. Were these the guests that Orochimaru had spoken about?

"M-master?" the blonde stammered. "Why are these people here?"

Naruto felt sickened when he heard how Naruto addressed Orochimaru. He stares closely at the boy. Was this really Naruto? He seemed so different from the curious and energetic blonde that he had known.

"What did you do to him, Orochimaru?" he snarled, anger showing on his face.

Again, Orochimaru just smugly smiled at him. "I did nothing, Sasuke-kun," he assured his student. "The boy I took from you, _I_ didn't change."

"Then how do you explain how he's acting?" Sasuke shouted. "What happened to the Naruto that I knew? You had to have done something to him. Naruto isn't as quiet as this. You know that as well as I do!"

"Yes, I did know that Naruto," Orochimaru admitted. "I knew him and I loved him. However, the person you should be blaming for this sudden change is not me. I didn't do this."

"Then who did it, asshole?" was the Uchiha's quick inquiry.

Sakon moved in and punched Sasuke. "Show Orochimaru-sama the respect he deserves."

"Sakon!" Orochimaru snapped.

"My apologies, Orochimaru-sama, I just couldn't stand for how he was disrespecting you."

Orochimaru merely nodded in response before turning back to Sasuke. He walked over to the boy, dragging an obedient Naruto with him. He took a seat on a chair that was opposite of where Sasuke and Tsunade were. Naruto sat on the floor near Orochimaru's leg. While the snake spoke, his hand played with the golden tresses of the slave.

"You brother, Uchiha Itachi, was the one that changed Naruto," he told his guest.

Sasuke was beside himself with fear and anger. Tsunade carefully watched her long-time patient's reaction. She had been his doctor for his entire life and so, naturally, she knew about Konran and what had happened to the boy.

To have another incident like that one would definitely not be good for the boy's mental health. Having broken memories of Konran was harsh and traumatic enough.

Orochimaru also watched the boy's reaction. He had no information about Konran, but he wondered how Sasuke would take this information. He and Itachi were _brothers_ after all. Shock, betrayal – these emotions would not be surprising to see.

But he didn't see them. Instead, there was a terrifying type of calm resolution on the boy's face. The snake couldn't figure out what it meant. He felt strangely unsettled when he saw the deadened look in Sasuke's eyes.

"Give me back Naruto, and I won't have to kill you," the Uchiha told him in a flat tone.

Naruto looked at Orochimaru fearfully. If he went back to Sasuke, there was no telling what Itachi might do.

"I'm afraid I cannot and will not give up my beautiful pet," was the pale man's reply to Sasuke's demand.

Sasuke let out a feral growl. He reached over and hiked up his pants leg. From a holster attached to his calf, he withdrew a handgun. He held it aimed for Orochimaru's skull. There was a tense feeling in the air now. None of the bodyguards knew what to do. Orochimaru just stared at the boy.

He wasn't the least surprised. In fact, he would have been surprised if Sasuke _hadn't_ taken drastic measures. Tsunade was surprised though. A gun had never been part of the plan that the two of them had orchestrated.

Faster than the eye could see, Orochimaru grabbed the knife he always had hidden in his belt. He yanked Naruto's chain, pulling the boy up onto his lap, pressing the sharp blade up to his throat.

"Try it, Sasuke. But only fire if you think the bullet will reach me before I am able to kill this boy."

Sasuke hesitated. He didn't anticipate Orochimaru to use Naruto as a shield. His brain was working furiously, trying to figure out his options. There had to be someway to kill Orochimaru and save Naruto at the same time.

Naruto looked at Sasuke. Tears were welling up in his azure eyes. He could feel the merciless metal against his throat and could only tremble weakly in Orochimaru's deadly embrace.

Their gazes met, raven black clashing with sky blue and it was as if they were the only two people that existed in the world.

"Please… please don't let him hurt you too," Naruto's gaze seemed to beg of Sasuke.

"I need your help here," Sasuke's eyes answered.

Yet neither made any move.

It was not Sasuke, Naruto or Orochimaru who made the next move. None of the bodyguards in the room stirred either. Rather, it was Tsunade who broke the tension in the air.

"Both of you are fucking morons," she finally yelled in the silence.

Sasuke and Orochimaru stared at her, wondering what she meant.

Shaking her head, she glowered at the both of them. When she continued speaking, it seemed as if even the walls of the room were listening to her. "You claim to love Naruto, yet you are willing to put him in harm's way, Orochimaru. And you, Sasuke, you are just being idiotic and irrational. Pulling a gun out? What the hell ever happened to your stoic composure that you were so fucking proud of? While I'm glad you finally found a heart, I wish you'd keep your brain."

Not listening to what she was actually saying, Sasuke was even more interesting in her golden eyes. He was always proud of the ability to read what people were thinking through the emotions they would unwittingly show in their eyes. Only his brother was a mystery to him, but that didn't matter. Tsunade was trying to tell him something.

_I have Orochimaru distracted,_ her eyes spoke to him. _Shoot now!_

The minute that Sasuke understood this message, he quickly turned back to his adversary. It only took a moment for him to aim, then he pulled the trigger. The sound was like thunder in the small room.

The bullet sped for its target.

But it didn't hit Orochimaru.

Instead of slicing Naruto's neck, like he had threatened, Orochimaru had used the poor blonde as a blockade. The bullet pierced Naruto's shoulder and Orochimaru let the boy fall with a cry of pain.

"You fucking coward!" Sasuke screamed, eyes flashing with a murderous intent. He walked closer to Orochimaru. With each step, he took, he pulled the trigger. These bullets did find their intended target. Sasuke emptied out at least half of the clip into the man's dead body. Even in his rage, with all of the bodyguards around (who were now staring at him and their dead master in shock), Sasuke wasn't stupid enough to use the entire cartridge on the now lifeless body. He wanted to, but he didn't.

Tsunade took this opportunity to rush over to her grandson. He was losing a lot of blood by the second and she knew that if they didn't get the blonde to a hospital soon, he wouldn't make it.

Orochimaru's men were looking at the dead body of their boss. Tayuya was the first to react. She set her sights on Sasuke.

"You little shit! I'll kill you!" she shrieked as she came charging at him.

Sasuke turned, the gun now aimed at her chest. "I dare you to come another step closer," he growled.

Tayuya stopped in her tracks when she noticed where the gun was pointing. She didn't know whether Sasuke was bluffing or not, but she wasn't going to take the chance that he wasn't.

Meanwhile, Tsunade ripped the hemming of her jacket off. She folded it and placed it against the bloody wound, pressing hard against the flow of blood in hopes of stalling it. The green material soon grew dark with the crimson substance, but that didn't hinder the doctor. She worked around blood all of the time, so it didn't faze her to see her own hands stained with it – although it had in the past. She knew it could be washed off.

The boy was still conscious, but barely so. The pain was worse than anything he had ever felt. It blinded him, made him lightheaded – or maybe it was the blood loss that did the latter to him. He didn't know. All he knew was that the world seemed to be slipping away from him. He closed his eyes, tears dropping down his cheeks.

_I don't want to die_, he thought, despite his suicidal thoughts before. With Orochimaru gone, maybe… maybe his dreams could come true. He didn't want to die right before the best thing of his entire life could happen. Maybe he could go back with Sasuke and live with him, Haku and Zabuza and all of the others again. Maybe one day, he could even learn how to read! _I don't want to die yet!_

And then blackness overtook him. It was a blissful sleep without dreams. He was glad to be drowning in this void. Here, he could rest. He would wake up to the world, but for now he could sleep without any worry of pain or nightmares. It was good to be able to rest like this.

Tsunade noticed that her patient was now unconscious. She knew that the clock was ticking. Naruto needed to be in a hospital. The woman turned and saw Sasuke.

"Uchiha!" she barked angrily. "Stop fucking around and call Zabuza in here _now!_"

Sasuke looked at her blankly for a moment before realizing what she was talking about,. He fished around in his pocket before withdrawing his cell phone. He pressed the speed dial for his servant,.

"Zabuza,": he said when he heard the other answer the phone. "We need you in here to help us carry Naruto to the car." That said, he clicked the phone off and pocketed it again.

"Sasuke, give me your shirt!" Tsunade ordered harshly.

Sasuke took less than a second to obey this order, stripping off his shirt without releasing the gun once. Tsunade balled up the shirt and placed it on the wound. She used what was left of her jacket to tie the shirt in place. She knew that this was the best she could do for now, but also that it wouldn't last for very long.

Luckily, it wasn't long before Zabuza burst through the door. He was lucky that this room was near the entrance of the mansion. It was the third door he had tried, since he didn't know exactly where his employer would be. He drank in the sight before him – Orochimaru's dead body, Tsunade kneeling over a fallen Naruto, Sasuke with a gun, etc – for a moment, before regaining himself.

"What do you need me to do, Sasuke?" he asked.

Sasuke turned to Tsunade. She was the one who was qualified to make the calls here. Both of them waited for her answer.

"Zabuza, carry Naruto to the car. Be careful with him, he was shot," Tsunade explained quickly.

Zabuza nodded and carefully lifted Naruto from the floor. Although he could tell that Naruto was still breathing, the boy felt like dead weight in his arms. The three of them hurried out to the car, where Haku was waiting.

The ex-slave gasped her he saw Naruto's wound. "W-what happened?" he stammered fearfully.

"Long story," Tsunade breathed out as she, Sasuke and Naruto were loaded into the back seat. "Zabuza, get us to a hospital and I don't care how many laws you break, get us there _fast_."

"Yes ma'am," the man answered. He got into the driver's seat and sped off towards the hospital.

* * *

Knowing that they couldn't go to the police because most of them had records, Orochimaru's men (and Tayuya) went to they only place they felt they could go to with the news of their master's death. They went to Uchiha Itachi.

Itachi was not overly ecstatic to receive them.

"What are the dogs of Orochimaru doing at my house?" he snarled without so much a greeting.

Kabuto looked at the man, trying not to be intimidated by him. It wasn't working all that well. "Orochimaru was killed tonight," he informed the red-eyed man.

"Oh?" Itachi sounded mildly interested, but the tone was dropped with his next line. "And why should I care?"

Tayuya lost her temper then. "It was your brother that murdered him!" she yelled.

Itachi looked at her leveling. He knew instinctively that she was not lying. Kabuto stared at her, forcing her to back down. He turned to Itachi and told the man all that had transpired that night.

Itachi sighed once Kabuto's tale was through. "Very well, I shall be sure to take care of it."

"Thank you, Itachi-sama," Kabuto replied with a bow.

Itachi nodded. "For now, I implore all of you to stay here for the night."

Although suspicious of the man, Kabuto nodded. "We would be honored, Itachi-sama."

Itachi called a servant in to escort them to his guest quarters, where they would stay.

Not long after they had left, he picked up the phone on his desk and called his second-in-commend and head of security.

"Kisame," he said in greeting before moving on to his orders. "Dispose of them. Destroy all evidence they were ever here. Also, send a team over to Orochimaru's Manor. My brother was never there, understand?"

"Yes, Itachi-sama," was Kisame's reply.

Itachi put the phone down and sat back in his chair. He would never let his brother go to court. Orochimaru's death would just have to be listed under "unsolved murders" even though he knew very well who had done it.

The police would never know. And even if they did, he had sufficient funds to quiet them. The Uchiha name would not be tarnished because of a serpent.

* * *

Sasuke, Haku and Zabuza were in the waiting room at the hospital. Tsunade had gone into the operating room with her grandson to use her abilities to help try and save his life.

That had been roughly three hours ago. They still had yet to emerge. None of them said a word. Haku and Zabuza still didn't know all that had happened and Sasuke was in no mood to tell them yet. He was too worried about Naruto. He would tell them after he learned Naruto's condition… if he was all right or not.

It wasn't until an hour later when the light signaling the O.R. was in use blinked off and Tsunade finally approached them. She looked drained, completely wiped out. She saw the three of them waiting there and walked closer.

"I've done all I can," she told them even before they could ask. "The rest is up to Naruto. In all honesty, I don't know what will happen."

Sasuke stood up, the muscles in his back (which had been very cramped) protesting the speed in which he stood, but he ignored them. "Where is he?" he demanded to know.

"Because he is in the Intensive Care Unit, I can only allow one person to visit him at a time," she explained. Haku and Zabuza nodded, understanding what was being said.

Sasuke was already looking around for signs that would lead him to the ICU. While he was distracted, Haku drew near to Tsunade.

"He will want to stay with Naruto-kun for the night, is that possible?" he asked.

Tsunade nodded, knowing from the look in those chocolate eyes that there was more.

"Is it all right if Zabuza and I stay here for the night?" he questioned tentatively, not knowing whether they could room in a waiting room.

Tsunade nodded again. "Be my guests, though the chairs aren't too comfortable," she told them.

Haku smiled slowly. "Don't worry about that."

Tsunade looked between them. "No farther than cuddling and kissing, you two, I don't need you guys to be thrown out on account of having sex in the waiting room. I could get sued!"

Haku pretended to look indignant, though it was strained because of his worry for Naruto. "Do you think so little of us?" he tried to snap furiously.

Tsunade offered him a smile. "No, I just felt like a bit a humor," she told them truthfully.

Haku and Zabuza both nodded.

"Come on Sasuke," Tsunade called. "The ICU is the other way!"

The Uchiha turned around from the way he was contemplating on going. He followed her without hesitation as she led him in the right direction.

They stopped in front of the door to the room where Naruto was being kept. Sasuke could see his nameplate, and it made him happy. 'Uzumaki Naruto' was written on the eraser board under the room number (274).

"Before you go in," Tsunade said, holding his arm so that he would listen to her. "I'm going to warn you: he's in bad shape."

Sasuke nodded slowly, not daring to say a word. He opened the door to the room where Naruto lay, hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.

**

* * *

_I'm twisting and turning  
__I'm slowly losing my mind  
__I'm feeling emotions  
__I've not yet begun to define  
__Hateful by nature  
__but I have committed no crime  
__Counting the seconds  
__It's only a matter of time_**

_I'm sitting in silence  
these walls have me confined  
There's thousands of voices  
not knowing which ones are mine  
No understanding of what it's like to feel  
trapped in a world where nothing seems real_

_Watch where you stand  
You're in the line of fire  
Total destruction  
My only desire..._

_Bow Ever Down, Silent Walls_

**

* * *

_Kyuubi-kun's Korner!_**

_Hey everyone… here's the next chapter. I know that I'm being an evil bastard, ending it right there, however, this fic is drawing to a close. I can only see two, maybe three more chapters before it's completely done. I'm sad to see this end, but I'm kind of glad that it's over. It hasn't been an easy piece of work… not in the least… _

_What was the real hell was seeing how far I could go without it becoming redundant. If it was redundant, please tell me… I want to know what I can change whenever I go back over this fic. Umm… oh yeah!_

_In the next chapter, you will find out what happened to Naruto when he was with Itachi, after the little excerpt in the previous chapter. I had to really think hard on this. What could make Naruto do a 180? Well, the only answer I could come up was break what he had left. You'll either understand in the next chapter or you won't. I hope to have it out soon, but don't bet on it. I have a lot of fics… but whatever._

_Thank you for the reviews. They help me a lot with get off my ass and actually doing something._


	17. Release the Hidden Keys

Here's chapter sixteen. I'm too tired and damned sick to care more about an author's note here. There's a longer one at the end of the chapter. Thank you to all of you who still keep up with this fic. It means a lot to me, as the writer.

**

* * *

Pain's Stoic Pleasures  
Chapter Sixteen: Release the Hidden Keys**

Naruto lay on the hospital bed, pale from blood loss and trauma. His entire chest was wrapped in thick gauze and bandages, as were his legs and arms. His only breaths were short gasps, though they seemed to sustain him enough. Sasuke stared at him, unable to believe this was the boy.

Tsunade shut the door as soon as Sasuke went in, knowing that he would need or want his privacy. The boy, usually seen as an enigma of sorts, could be inanely easy to figure out if you knew him well enough.

Now, the Uchiha's emotions were blatant as he stared at the injured blonde. He wanted Naruto to be okay. He wanted the boy to finally be able to live a normal life: a life different from what he had had to go through so far. He wanted to offer the Uzumaki a pace where he could start over. But in order for that to happen, the boy needed to heal.

Sasuke sighed. Since his entry to the room, the blonde had yet to move once. He knew that Naruto was at least somewhat awake, if not entirely there. The blonde's cerulean blue eyes were open, but thee was no recognition – no spark that could be Naruto in them. They were just wide, blank and empty.

Sasuke couldn't stand to see his Naruto like this, but he was unsure of what it was that he could do. There seemed to be nothing that came to mind as to what he could do, as he sat in the chair next to the bed and held the boy's hand.

"Hey, Naruto," he whispered, figuring that the best thing to do was to talk to the patient. However, it didn't cancel out the fact that he felt like an idiot for doing so. "I really don't know what to say here. I mean, I'm not very good at this sort of thing." He paused, studying his friend's eyes.

Nothing.

So he continued.

"Haku and Zabuza are worried about you. To tell you the truth, I am too. I don't know what it is about you, but you've caught my attention and I don't want to let you go. Guess I'm no better than any of those other assholes… I'm a possessive bastard too."

He was surprised when he felt the blonde's fingers tighten a little bit around his own. He gasped at the contact the blonde gave him. There was still no change in his eyes or face, but Sasuke was willing to take anything he could get.

Suddenly, the grip on his hand intensified and those eyes closed on their own. The blonde's teeth scraped against each other in an effort to block something out. He whimpered slightly in the back of his throat. The grip was nearly breaking the bones of the Uchiha's fingers, but he didn't want to let go.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked, wondering what was wrong with the boy. "Naruto!"

The boy didn't respond as his thrashing calmed down slowly, until he finally stopped moving. His hand had also settled down. It was still hanging onto Sasuke's hand, but no longer was it to the point where it was painful.

The Uchiha's mouth became a grim line. What had just happened? What was Naruto dreaming about – or thinking about? There was no explanation that Sasuke could think of.

_Idiot_, he immediately chastised himself. _Naruto has thousands of things that could give him nightmares. I just wish I knew which one was. But… could I help him get over his past? Am I truly the right person for the job? What will happen if I don't help him, though? Would he go back to Gatou's? Would he… would he die? Probably. I can't imagine him wanting to live very much. It's a surprise he's held on for this long._

He shook his head briefly. _Stop thinking about things like that_, he told himself firmly. It would do no one any good if he was freaking himself out thinking the blonde before him was going to commit suicide every chance he could. Sasuke knew better than that. He knew Naruto was stronger than that.

He laughed mockingly at himself. _If it were me in his place, I would've been the one to watch out for,_ he thought grimly. _After all, Gatou probably wouldn't want his merchandize dying on him. I might've tried dying just to piss him off. Naruto's better than me._

He stared at Naruto. The boy looked more peaceful, at least. That was a good thing, he supposed. He wondered how long it would take Naruto to heal. Probably a long time. He _did _get shot.

That's when Sasuke remembered. His eyes widened as he let go of Naruto's hand and crept back against the wall, shaking.

_Holy shit_, _I… I shot him!_ Sasuke thought to himself. He let out a small noise that could've been mistaken for a whimper. _I… I killed Orochimaru. I'm a murderer._

Hours passed until he knew that the dawn was coming soon. He didn't know how he knew… but it could be the gradually lightening of the sky. He wasn't sure how to feel. This would be his first dawn as a murderer. He couldn't really believe it. Didn't want to believe it. He also was unable to distract himself from what he had going through his head. Nothing seemed to be able to quell the whirlwind of thoughts.

On the bed, Naruto let out a strangled moan. He tried to thrash about, getting tangled in the sheets. Unable to move his arms or legs, he froze, a cold sweat covering his body. He couldn't move. The boy stared at the ceiling.

It was unfamiliar. Where was he? He… where was this place? Why couldn't he move? Was anyone around? Who was keeping him captive?

The blonde tried to move his head to look around, but only succeeded in causing pain to flow throughout all of his limbs. He bit back a yell when this happened. Still, he hissed in pain, trying to move his arms in order to get out of whatever he was caught in. One of his arms flared with a pain immeasurable, leaving him gasping for breath. What was that?

He inhaled haphazardly, trying to get oxygen back into his lungs after freezing because of his arm. He sighed. Here he was, in a strange place, and there was no one here. What had happened…? He closed his eyes, trying to remember what had occurred the last time he was awake.

_"Give me back Naruto, and I won't have to kill you." _

Confusion. Grabbed. Scared. There was a knife held to his throat. Scared. So scared.

"Try it, Sasuke. But only fire if you think the bullet will reach me before I am able to kill this boy."

Fear. Pure fear cascading through him. He had never felt anything like this, never known anything like this. It was too much, the suspense, everything…too much.

A loud sound. It reminded him of fireworks, but he knew it was from the gun. Gun! Sasuke had a gun! Why did Sasuke have a gun?

Pain, ripping through him. He couldn't think of anything else. The pain. It hurt, it hurt so much. Sad. Why sad, though? Just pain. Pain must go away. Pain, pain, go away, come again another day?

Did he really want it to come again? No! No pain! Die… death… death would be good. No pain, just sleep. Sleep forever. That would be good.

No… not death. He didn't want to die. He wanted to do things with his life… he didn't want to be who he was his entire life. He didn't want to die, but it hurt so much.

Falling… hitting something hard. Pain again, more pain. It hurt. Make it go away. Someone make it go away. More fireworks.

No, not fireworks.

Gun.

Louder, angrier.

Gun.

Fear, pain, hatred overtaking his vision. He couldn't move, couldn't speak, could only lay there uncomfortably. There were voices all around him, but they were hazy, incoherent against the rushing in his ears. His vision was blurring, the colors dimming.

Then darkness fell.

He couldn't make sense of half of the memory. It was mostly swirls of color, terror and other negative emotions. Sighing to himself, he heard the muffled whimper of someone else in the room and his brow furrowed. There was someone else here? Who was it though? Who could it possibly be?

He still hadn't figured out where he was. He had never been in a place like this. The walls were pure white and there was a horrible smell in the air. He couldn't even begin to describe how much it revolted him.

What place would have a smell such as this? It disgusted him, even more than some of the other places he had been in, the different party rooms, bedrooms, mornings after. All of that he eventually got used to, but this… this was new.

There was that sound again. Gritting his teeth together to brace against the pain that would undoubtably occur when he moved, he swung his head to the side, wincing. In the corner of the room, curled into a small ball, obviously shaking, was Sasuke.

"Sasuke?" Naruto croaked, his throat raw for some reason.

The Uchiha looked up. Those blue eyes were staring at him. Naruto was staring at him, at this murderer. Still… he couldn't help feeling happy that Naruto was awake. Something told him that that was a good thing. Still… was he really prepared to take care of Naruto?

He wasn't entirely sure anymore. Any moment, he expected police to burst into the hospital room and arrest him for murder. It didn't matter that Orochimaru deserved to die. That didn't matter in the least. What _did_ matter was that he was the one that had pulled the trigger.

And his conscience wasn't letting him forget that.

He wasn't entirely sure if he _wanted_ to forget it. Sure, he would give anything to be the person he was yesterday – not innocent in any way, but not a murderer either. He would give anything to not be what he was. However, he knew that that was just something that he couldn't run from anyway.

He had killed someone, his rational mind told him, but that doesn't mean that it's the end of the world.

He stood up. He couldn't let Naruto see what was going through his mind at the moment. He had to act normal around the blonde. Naruto had enough on his plate right now without Sasuke burdening him further.

"Hey, Naruto, how do you feel?" he said, trying to hide all of his negativity behind his bland mask as always.

Naruto thought about this for a moment. How did he feel? He wasn't entirely sure. "I don't know," he answered truthfully. "Where are we?"

"We're in a hospital," Sasuke explained as he took a seat in the chair he had abandoned the night before.

"Hospital?" Naruto wondered.

Sasuke, happily occupied with the matters at hand, didn't realize when Tsunade came in behind him, with Shizune trailing behind her.

"Yes, Naruto, a hospital," Tsunade told him. "It's a place people go when their seriously injured."

"Am I injured?" Naruto asked innocently. "Is that why it hurts?"

Tsunade sighed. She had nearly forgotten Naruto's simpleton ways and manner. It felt like ages since the last time she had seen her grandson.

"Naruto, I'm not sure how much you can remember," Tsunade began.

"Not much," he muttered to himself, wondering if that was a good thing or not. Tsunade nodded, as though expecting that answer.

"Naruto," she murmured softly. "You were shot. The bullet, unluckily did not go clean through. We managed to get it out of your shoulder muscles, where it was stuck, but we don't think you'll be able to use your left arm as well ever again. While missing vital organs, the bullet did do a sufficient amount of damage to your shoulder bone. It will be hard for you to lift things with that arm for the rest of your life."

"I… I'll still be able to keep it, won't I?" the boy asked, cerulean eyes wide.

Tsunade nodded slowly. "But don't strain it, ever… or you may never be able to use it again."

Naruto fell silent, wondering what all of that meant. He understood that he was shot. That must be why his shoulder hurt as much as it did. The bullet had gotten stuck, but they had gotten it out. So what was the problem?

Sasuke listened to all that was being said. He understood the underlying meanings to most of the words. Naruto would have trouble with the injury his entire life. And it was all Sasuke's fault.

* * *

It was hours later when Tsunade returned. She signaled to Sasuke, who was still sitting by a now sleeping Naruto. 

Sasuke stood up and walked over to the door. "Yes?" he asked, expectantly.

Tsunade cast a wearing glance at the sleeping boy before yanking Sasuke out of the room and shutting the door behind him.

"Ow!" Sasuke protested. "What was that for?"

"Since you are his legal guardian, I figured you would want to know this," she told him.

"Know what?"

* * *

Back in the room, Naruto tossed and turned on his bed, unaware of the pain he shot through his left arm each time he did. The dreams, the memories, they were so much worse. They would haunt him for the rest of his life. He knew that, even as he wished they wouldn't. 

_His hands were bound over his head, the rope tied to the chandelier in the middle of the ceiling. Naruto had found out quickly how much Itachi loved to cause pain. He wanted to give his partner as much pain as he could possibly dole out. The blonde shivered slightly as he felt the cold steel of the Uchiha's knife press against his skin. He hated the feeling of metal against his flesh. Naruto was currently devoid of all clothing, save for the thin metallic collar around his neck. Itachi had gone a step farther with this and actually attached a cockring to the collar via a strip of black leather. _

Naruto hissed slightly as the blade grazed off some of his skin, allowing a thin string of blood to fall sluggishly down his torso. Naruto could see his tormentor, as the man clung to the dim shadows, fully clothed, and with a malicious smile on his face.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked softly, eyes boring into Naruto's.

Naruto shook his head slowly. He didn't know for certain who this man was. All he had were a few educated guesses.

"You really don't know?" the Uchiha asked as his hand ran softly over the younger boy's manhood. The Uchiha teased Naruto without mercy. The blonde felt a moan surpass his lips as he shook his head again in answer.

"Then protocol says that I must introduce myself," Itachi whispered. "I am Uchiha Itachi. My younger brother was the master that Orochimaru stole you from." Here, Itachi began to stroke the blonde's chest with his knife. Shallow cuts appeared all over the bronze skin. A few of them leaked blood. "I ordered him to do so."

Naruto looked up to the other, eyes widened with shock. "Why?" he asked, earning himself a deep gash right below the collarbone. Surprising even himself, Naruto didn't care about it and proceeded to question Itachi. He wanted to know why this man thought that he wasn't supposed to be around Sasuke. He wanted to know why there was such a problem with himself. "Why?" he repeated.

Itachi slashed him across the left eye this time. "Those reasons are not for you to know… Naruto," he whispered. Naruto gasped at hearing his own name used, but the rational part of his mind told him that he shouldn't be so stunned, as Orochimaru already knew of it and therefore could have told Itachi.

"You see, Naruto-kun, I do not need my little brother consorting with the likes of your dirty blood," the man sneered.

Naruto's eyes widened as memories flashed behind them, overtaking his conscious and tossing him back to a time where he never wanted to return. Being a slave, a whore was better than that place. Being what he was, as disgusting as it seemed, was better than these memories.

Naruto's eyes were wide with fear. Although he could never remember anything specific and images were forever lost to him, but words were different. Words would always stay with him, driving him with long tones until he went completely insane.

**"Why were you born! Why do I have to house a monster like you! Get away from me! GET AWAY!"**

Naruto closed his eyes, trying to shut out the voices that were so determined to haunt him.

**"Look** **what you did to my wife, you little shit. I still don't see why the family wants to keep you alive. You don't deserve to live. You're blood is dirty blood."**

Why wouldn't these voices leave him? He was already going through a physical trial, so why did a mental one have to be added on as well?

Itachi was studying him. Naruto was vaguely aware of this, too lost in his own thoughts to dwell on it for very long. The Uchiha didn't seem to take his eyes off the blonde.

It was as though he enjoyed seeing Naruto suffer, even if he didn't know the reason why.

Naruto couldn't understand it, couldn't reason how Itachi knew about that part of his past.

"Oh yes, Naruto," Itachi sneered, bringing Naruto back to the present. "I know of the dirty blood you carry. I know of your parents… of your past… of their stupid experiments. I was an intern at their damn laboratory."

Naruto looked up at him, wondering what the man was going on about. He didn't even know why he was paying attention anymore. He figured it was because he knew the man wouldn't let him sleep. He would torture him until there was nothing left. That was the type of man that Naruto sensed Uchiha Itachi was.

Itachi gripped Naruto's chin in his hands. "You're pitiful parents were messing with highly dangerous genetic material. And they screwed with me. My eyes are as they are because of them."

He let Naruto go. "Not that I mind anymore, but can you imagine how I was ridiculed for my red eyes?" he asked. Turning to look back at the captive blond, he smirked. "No, I suppose you can't. After all, you're only a whore. Whores know nothing of the world outside the bedroom."

Naruto didn't argue. There was nothing he could argue with. What Itachi spoke of was truth. Naruto knew of virtually nothing outside of his cage. No one had ever bothered to teach him such matters.

"Your parents had to understand what they had done to me," Itachi continued with his tale. He turned back to Naruto once again, malice glinting in those unnatural red eyes. "So I killed them. First… I killed your mother. Pretty thing. Your eyes match hers perfectly. She was a wonderful woman. But because she was an Uzumaki and worked at that laboratory, I had to kill her. So I did… with my own two hands."

Naruto could believe what this man was telling him. He was mad! Stark-raving mad! And Naruto was here, caught with him. He wasn't even sure if he would last the night the way that things were going right now. He could feel the stinging pains from everywhere that the knife had kissed him. He didn't like these small physical tortures, but he could withstand. He didn't just dislike what Itachi was telling him, he hated it.

Were his parents really as bad as Itachi made them seem to be? Was his family really as cursed as everyone made it seem to be? He could hear the voices, the ones that had spat at him when he was a young boy. Those voices still haunted him. They had sold him to Gatou without even thinking twice. They might even still get a small percentage of what he brought in. Naruto didn't know. Didn't care. He had thought anything was better than that household. He wondered if that were true over the past years that he had been "working" for Gatou. He still didn't know which was better.

One he was forced to labor as a slave, beaten and malnourished whenever they had a bad day. It was the only family he had known. He wasn't even sure if they were family, but that didn't matter. What mattered were the scars he still bore from his treatment there. Those scars wouldn't fade. Those people had said they were his parents, but he wasn't sure. He was never sure. They didn't look like him. They couldn't have been his parents.

In Gatou's, he was a sex slave, beaten by some, cuddled by others. He had learned to distance himself there because there was no "family" at Gatou's Auction House. There was only the money that the different slaves brought in. That was all. Naruto knew that. He knew it well. Those that brought in the most money worked the least. He had wondered how to become better at what he was forced to do, only for the prospect of working less. But it never improved. His life never improved. All he had had left was the hope of leaving on his eighteenth birthday.

Now he was wondering if he would even make_ it to his eighteenth birthday. He didn't think he had been this abused as he had in the past few weeks since he had been a live-in slave at Orochimaru's house four years beforehand. _

Itachi was still speaking. He backhanded Naruto across the face when he realized the boy wasn't listening. Naruto winced at the contact and turned his blue eyes towards his tormentor.

"Slaves should listen when their Masters speak to them, understand?" he asked.

That face, it was like Sasuke's but harder, meaner. Sasuke's face was blank, but if you knew where to look, it was completely open. The thought of Sasuke brought a strength to Naruto that he had never known, never used before.

"I'm not a slave!" he shouted at the top of his lungs in Itachi's face. The man seemed unsurprised by this remark.

"Yes you are, Naruto," he continued. "You are very much a slave. And right now, until I open that door –" He nodded to the entrance to the office. "-I am your Master."

Naruto struggled fiercely against the bonds holding him. He didn't want to be here. And why should he stay if he didn't want to be here? Why should he be here if there was no reason to stay? Itachi would never be a good reason for Naruto to stay. He didn't want the man anywhere near him. So he had to run. But first, he needed to get free.

"Naughty boy, aren't you?" Itachi mused quietly.

He walked quietly over to a chest in the corner and opened it, knowing that this was where Orochimaru kept all of his toys when he wasn't carrying them in the duffel bag that Naruto was accustomed to seeing. He looked through all of the devices until he came to what he wanted. It was a hard leather riding crop, but it would do for the purposes Itachi had in mind.

He made his way back over to Naruto. "Do you know what is done to naughty boys?" he asked.

Naruto pursed his lips shut, afraid to answer. Itachi had an insane glint in his eye that Naruto was weary of. Something told him not all was right in this man's head.

"Come now, venture a guess," the man spoke softly.

Naruto shook his head.

"Fine," Itachi murmured. "I'll tell you what is done to naughty boys." He flicked the crap in the air a bit before continuing. "Naughty boys are always punished."

Without another moment of hesitation, Itachi brought the crop hard upon the boy's bottom. He whipped the skin until Naruto cried out with pain and the boy's buttocks shone bright red from the abuse.

"Now, are you going to be nice?" Itachi wanted to know.

Naruto nodded simply. He was fighting back tears from the pain. It wasn't so much that it hurt – well it did hurt a lot – but it stung

_"Then I suppose I can let you down, but remember," Itachi began. "You're the slave here, no more than a dog… and as a dog, you should act like one. So you will stay on all fours, and obey every command I give you or you will be punished, am I understood?"_

_Naruto nodded again. Itachi released the blonde from his bonds and Naruto tottered to the floor, yelping as he landed on his backside. Itachi took a seat in a chair, watching the boy through crimson irises. After recovering himself, slightly, Naruto stared at the man. He wondered what would be asked of him next._

_Looking around at the door wistfully, Naruto sighed. As much as he wanted to run towards it, Itachi was probably faster than him, especially in the condition he was in right now… blood trickled from the scratches. Still… even though he had said he would obey… he really wanted out. He wanted freedom. He wanted his own life to be his._

_Setting his jaw, he sprang up and ran towards the door, wondering where the hell he got the courage to do things like this. His mind calmly replied that this man was not his Master and he had no obligation whatsoever to obey him. Orochimaru had been his Master, so there was some lingering obligation there. Sasuke was his Master. He had every obligation to obey him._

_But Itachi was neither. The blonde was pretty sure that he had never met the elder Uchiha before in his life. He had seen him around the auction, though rarely, but had never been purchased. Itachi wasn't his Master! He didn't have to obey him. The words filtered through his mind as he made his break for the door._

_Itachi was faster._

_He caught up with Naruto before the boy made it halfway to freedom and grabbed him around the middle, throwing him into Orochimaru's desk. Naruto winced at the impact, knowing there would be a very large bruise there tomorrow._

_He hissed out in pain as he fell to the floor. Itachi walked over to him, anger showing in his every stride._

_He leaned over and grabbed Naruto by the neck, lifting him and slamming him onto the desk. "You will do as I say, or –"_

_Naruto glared at him. "Or what?" he snapped. "You're not my Master! I don't have to listen to you!"_

_Itachi sneered at him. "You will regret it if you do not!" he spat._

_Naruto lay still beneath the elder. Those eyes captivated him, filling him with dread, but he wanted his freedom. He wanted to break free of this sick cycle that he was caught up in._

_He didn't care how much pain he was put through. He didn't care about anything. He just wanted to be free._

_"Let go of me!" he shouted. "You're not my Master! Gatou-sama says I only have to obey my Master. You didn't pay for me so you're not my Master."_

_Itachi pressed his hand down on his neck, causing him to choke. "I would heed my warnings, slave," he snarled as Naruto began to feel the world dim from the lack of air. Suddenly, Itachi pulled back, and air rushed into his lungs. He coughed a bit, looking at the man defiantly._

_"Kill me then! I won't listen to you!" he yelled back._

_"There are several things worse than death, Naruto, and you are about to experience each and every one."_

* * *

"You might want to sit down for this," she began, pointing to a chair in the hallway. Obediently, the Uchiha sat down. He stared up at the doctor, wondering why she was so worried. 

"What is it Tsunade?" he asked softly. "You might as well tell me."

Tsunade sighed, wondering how to best phrase what she was going to say next.  
Not many people knew of the particular disease that Naruto had. It wasn't as wide known, nor as wide spread as AIDS or Hepatitis. Breathing in, she began her explanation.

"We've taken several blood tests and all of them come out with the same result," she told him with a defeated tone. "Naruto has a disease called endocarditis. From the track marks on his arms, I believe that he got it during some drug intake or another, because it is commonly caused by bacteria on needles. If we had known about it sooner, if there was anyone we could have seen it coming… then we could have prevented the inevitable."

"The inevitable?" Sasuke murmured slowly, as though his brain was having a hard time processing this information.

"Yes, Sasuke, the inevitable. We ran other tests with the hope that we were wrong. Even the chest X-ray showed us this disease. There is nothing we can do. Naruto will die."

"When?" Sasuke yelled. "How long does he have left to live? Why didn't you know this sooner! Dammit!"

"We aren't sure. Probably not longer than a year. This disease deals with his heart, Sasuke. There's nothing we can do with the heart."

Sasuke's eyes were wide, his fingers twitching and his mouth slack. A cold look came to his gaze as he shuffled about restlessly, murmuring something incoherent, obviously unnerved and falling into some type of delusion his mind had created for him. Oh, how he wished it were just a delusion. But this, this was far worse.

Because this was real.

"Calm down, Sasuke," she tried.

"No!" he shouted. He saw Haku and Zabuza at the edge of his vision but didn't even acknowledge them or care that they were there. Nothing would make him move from his ideals that Naruto would one day live a happily ever after life.

Sasuke was unaware of the emotions that were taking control of him. "That's not true!" he yelled. "That can't be true! Don't lie to me!"

He sank to the floor, beating it with his fists. How could one boy stir up this much emotion in him? One part of him asked that, but he didn't care anymore. His chest felt tight, painful, as he thought of Naruto, who had to endure so much, lose so much.

A few tears leaked out of his eyes as he continued to mutter words that no longer made sense to him and weakly beat the floor. He felt as though all of his strength were leaving him. He didn't know why he felt that, but he couldn't find the energy to move. He just wanted to lay down here and die.

_Maybe I should've slept last night or today_, he thought hazily as he fell forward, completely unconscious from worrying and lack of sleep.

_

* * *

"Don't ask me to surrender"  
Her voice fell tired and spent  
"My hopes and dreams, a silent heart  
I carry here within" _

her outstretched wings, left tattered  
A sail aged with rust  
"a breath in time, that's yours and mine...  
it belongs to only us"

And I will write her name and cast it to the sky  
silhouettes recede into a mother's tearful eyes  
a host of angels clamor to her side  
a light dissolves to kiss the wind  
release the dragonfly

See the rose within the field of white  
She's searching for the grail  
but the rain descends to snatch the light  
from distant dying suns  
a faint resounding in the night  
calls angels wings to beat  
singing silent lip-sewn songs  
but the distance is too deep ..

The Cruxshadows, Dragonfly**

* * *

Kyuubi-kun's Korner! **

Allright, here's Chapter sixteen of Pain's Stoic Pleasures. Only one chapter or two left, maybe one chapter and an epilogue or maybe just one chapter. I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while on my other fics, but I have a really hectic schedule. I'm balancing so many things in my life right now, that its hell just finding time to write, let alone write a lot.

So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Again, I apologize for lack of updates to any and all of my fics. I will do the best I can, but I cannot promise you frequent updates anymore. I will however, update when I can and with what I can. So there's all I have to say. I hope you enjoyed reading.

Oh, and just so you know, that disease I talked about it real and it is usually transmitted through bacterial infections and it seriously fucks with the heart, so yeah… I wrote truth there, and now Naruto has it. What can I say, I love angst… (grin)

Don't worry. I think I'm a firm believer in happy endings.


	18. Forever Home Free

**Pain's Stoic Pleasures**  
**Chapter Seventeen: Forever Home Free**

* * *

Tsunade looked down at the unconscious form of Sasuke. The boy had really managed to overdo it this time. He had been so worried about Naruto that he had forgotten to do the simple things like eating well or sleeping. It was sweet that his worry for her grandson extended so far. Still, she mused as she injected a nutrient supplement into his arm via IV, he should know better than this when it comes to his health. He wouldn't be much used to Naruto if he was dead, after all.

She looked over at the other bed in the room. Naruto lay still and peaceful beneath the white sheets. Tsunade could feel her anger growing at the late Orochimaru. If Sasuke hadn't killed him, she most definitely would have. The young blonde began to stire beneath his covers. His eyes opened slowly, scanning the room impassively. He turned towards Tsunade, surprised to see Sasuke in the bed next to him.

"What happened to him?" he wanted to know.

Tsunade smiled softly. "He was worried about you and managed to run himself into the ground. He forgot to eat or sleep and finally just collapse though. He'll be fine after he's rested."

Naruto nodded, if only because he knew he was supposed to make some sort of reply. In truth, the news was processing very slowly. Tsunade watched him, almost seeing the information strive to make some sort of sense. She was glad she hadn't mentioned Sasuke's mental distress. She wasn't sure that Naruto would understand. She grimaced as she stepped around Sasuke's bed. Even though his condition wasn't bad enough to warrant being in the ICU, Tsunade had put him in bed in here. She figuring he would want to be near Naruto.

Speaking of which… she turned to Naruto with a grave expression on her face. "Naruto, I have something very important to tell you."

The blonde looked at her solemnly.

"You have a deadly heart disease. It's too far along for us to be able to do anything about it. I'm sorry."

Naruto looked at her, nothing but shock in his eyes. "I-I'm going to die?" he stumbled over the question.

"Yes."

"How long?"

"There is no way to tell. Probably less than a year."

Naruto nodded and turned onto his side, back facing Tsunade. He wanted to get away from the knowledge, but he was careful not to injure his shoulder further. He lay there, curled almost within himself, chewing on his bottom lip furiously. He couldn't believe it. He didn't want to face it.

He was going to _die_! How could one cope with that? Sasuke wouldn't want him around if he couldn't do anything… if he was dying. He was dying! Why would anyone want to take care of him? Promises only existed for the healthy. Once someone became sick, no one cared anymore. He knew that. It was why he had been careful about his health for years. He never even had a cold.

"What do I do now?" he whispered.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Where will I go?" Naruto bit out brokenly, barely aware he was speaking. "No one wants to take care of a sick whore."

Tsunade blew out an exasperated breath. "You could always stay with me, if you want."

Naruto finally sat up, turning only his head to face her. He would have turned completely on the other side if not for his shoulder. He had a hard look in his eyes. "Why would you do that?"

The doctor pursed her lips together. It was now or never. "Because you are my grandson. If I didn't offer you a place, then I might as well throw what family values I have left out the window."

There was a pause before, "You're related to me?"

Tsunade nodded.

The young man's face twisted into a glare. "Then where the fuck have you been all my life?" He gritted his teeth together.

"Searching for you!" she snapped. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and forced herself to calm down. "If you must know."

"Y-you've been searching for me?" he asked. She nodded.

Out of habit, Tsunade took a glance at the clock on the wall.

"Dammit," she growled. "I have other patients to attend to." She made her way to the door, almost exiting before turning back to Naruto. "Remember. My door will always be open to you."

Naruto nodded as he watched her leave. He definitely had a lot to think about.

* * *

It had been a few hours before Sasuke finally awoke. He yawned loudly, breaking Naruto out of his thoughts.

"Hey, Naruto," he greeted when he realized what must have happened. "How are you?"

Naruto ignored the question. He didn't even look at Sasuke. "Did you know that the doctor lady was my grandma?"

Sasuke blinked, not fully grasping what was being said. "What do you mean?"

"She told me she was my grandma," he explained. "Isn't that funny? She said I could live with her if I want."

"Do you want to?" Sasuke asked, ignoring the clutching feeling in his chest at the thought of losing the blonde. There were no guarantees he could keep the boy safe, or make him happy. The past occurrences were proof of that.

"I don't know."

"Why not?"

"It doesn't seem right."

"Really."

Naruto nodded. "I'll have to think about it." In his mind, he wanted Sasuke to offer, to give him hope.

Instead, Sasuke nodded thoughtfully. Naruto did his best to keep his plummeting mood off his face. He couldn't let Sasuke know how hurt he was by the fact that the boy obviously didn't want him.

"It's your choice, I suppose," Sasuke murmured, almost inaudibly. He got up from his bed and walked over to Naruto's.

"What was that?" Naruto asked, having not heard what the dark-haired man had said.

Sasuke looked over at the boy. How long had they known each other? It had just been a little over a month since Neji had approached Sasuke and Naruto had come into his life. A little over two weeks since he realized how much the blonde had meant to him.

Did these things always happen within such little time?

"Get some sleep," Sasuke told him, ruffling the golden locks of hair.

Naruto stared at him suspiciously, but he was tired and it would be nice to sleep. It wasn't long before the blonde had closed his eyes and his breathing evened out.

Sasuke shook his head and left the hospital room, walking down the sterile halls until he reached the front entrance. He stepped outside. It was cold. The chilly October air penetrated his skin. He didn't mind though.

He would need to figure out a way to keep Naruto safe. That was his biggest worry. Orochimaru was not a threat, but his brother was. Even if Orochimaru had still been alive, Sasuke probably would be worrying about what Itachi would be doing more. His brother could be quite evil if he wanted to be.

The bad part was that he normally wanted to be.

Haku appeared at Sasuke's elbow, having followed the young man out of the hospital.

"I hear you haven't asked Naruto to live with you," he murmured quietly.

Sasuke sighed. "I want to make sure it's safe first."

"And how can you do that?"

"By making sure Itachi doesn't interfere."

Haku nodded thoughtfully. "That's a tricky situation."

Sasuke could only agree.

* * *

It was less than two hours later that they arrived at this place. Sasuke took a deep breath as he stared up at the mansion before him. This was it. He couldn't associate with the man inside anymore. He couldn't bring himself to call that man "brother" any longer. Not after all that had happened. He would break out from under the man's hold. He realized now that he should have done it years ago. Still, for the safety of himself and of Naruto, he would do it now.

"Sasuke?" a voice beside him asked. The young Uchiha turned to see Haku and Zabuza standing there. It had been Haku who had spoken. "Are you ready?"

Sasuke could only nod. The three of them entered the mansion warily. They were greeted by Itachi's chief of security.

"Sasuke-kun," Kisame said as he approached them. "This is a surprise. We weren't expecting you."

"I need to speak with Itachi," he growled. "Where is he?"

"Itach-san is away on business," the man responded. "You'll have to wait for him to get back from his meeting."

Sasuke looked at the man in front of him levelly. Not one emotion played on his face except the arrogance expected of him in situations such as these. "We three shall wait in his office, then."

"I-"

"Is there a problem with that? He is my brother after all. I should think that I should be able to wait in his office, especially when it pertains to business matters."

"I-"

"Please tell Itachi when he gets here that I would like to meet with him."

"But-"

"Good day."

Without waiting for any sort of reply, Sasuke shoved past his way past. Kisame stared after him, fuming. Still, that was Itachi's brother and as such, Kisame could not and would not lay a hand on him.

* * *

The three visitors reached the office without any more interruptions. When Sasuke closed the door behind, Haku began to laugh.

"That was wonderful, Sasuke!" he let out between his snickers. Even Zabuza had the ghost of a proud smile on his lips. Sasuke shrugged.

"You two seem to forget that I _am_ a businessman, even though I'm still in high school," he grumbled softly, remembering that it had been a while since he had been to school. Not since Naruto had been taken by that pedophile. He thought about how the school would react to him just reappearing soon. He supposed they wouldn't mind. He was ahead of his class, already owned his own business, and could easily get a college degree. He shook his head. His teachers probably wouldn't mind, and the school had most likely been let out because of Orochimaru's death.

He didn't regret it in the least. After his initial breakdown when he looked at Naruto a mere two days beforehand, he hadn't revisited the idea. Killing Orochimaru was the right thing to do. For himself, for Naruto, for the world. If they didn't agree with him, then they didn't have to.

Besides, no police had come after him yet, so he supposed that was a good thing. Maybe someone had intervened.

The raven-haired teenager was roused from his thoughts by his brother entering the office. Itachi was the perfect example of a businessman. His gray suit was pressed, preventing any wrinkles; his shoes were polished; his tie was straight and his hair in a ponytail at the base of his neck. Sasuke was always taken about whenever he saw his brother's pristine appearance.

Maybe it was just because he couldn't get past the fact that Itachi used to hate suits and now barely wore anything else.

"Sasuke, what a surprise," Itachi murmured silkily. He nodded at Sasuke's subordinates. "Zabuza. Haku. A pleasure, as always."

Zabuza nodded back in much the same fashion and Haku offered Itachi the tiniest hint of a smile. He couldn't get the fact that Itachi had ordered Orochimaru to take Naruto away, so he couldn't even act as though nothing had happened.

Zabuza's hand slipped into Haku's, giving it a gentle squeeze. Surprised, Haku looked up at his boyfriend. The man was allowing a tiny hint of affection in his eyes. The younger man couldn't help but smile softly in return.

Sasuke didn't notice the interlude between Haku and Zabuza. He was too busy trying to figure out the best way to approach the situation. He knew what he wanted to say - he just needed to think of a diplomatic way of getting it.

"Itachi, I have a request for you," the boy said in a firm, authoritative tone. He could feel his palms sweating, and he tried to be discreet about wiping them on his pants. He didn't know why he was so nervous. This was his older brother. He shouldn't be this nervous.

Itachi had raised him though, albeit badly, he still owed it to his brother that he was alive. He was standing here in order to completely sever connections with his brother and that was a large step for him.

_For Naruto_, he thought to himself, swallowing nervously. He was acting as though this was his first speech in front of business associates. It had been three years since then.

Itachi sat down at his desk, turning to face Sasuke. "Yes?" he prompted slowly, folding his hands in front of him.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. He needed to do this. He _would_ do this. Naruto depended on him.

"Itachi, my request is that you remove your influence from my property and my companies and never step foot in my manor again. I do not want you in my life anymore."

Itachi's eyes widened slightly. It was the only indication of surprise that Sasuke got. "And why would that be, little brother?" he asked softly.

"You have interfered in my affairs, you arranged to have one of my close associates _kidnapped_ and while doing so, injured one of my servants," Sasuke bit out, a bit more harshly than he meant to. "I believe that is sufficient reason to want you to remove your claws from my life."

There was a heavy silence in the room. Sasuke could feel the nervous sweat on the back of his neck, making the hairs stand on end. He took a deep breath and continued.

"If you do not do this, then I will bring you up on the charges that I just listed, as well as assault, rape and associating with criminals," he threatened.

Itachi's eyes narrowed. This was a route that he never anticipated Sasuke taking. "And what about how you murdered Orochimaru? Do you not think that I could threaten you with that?"

"I will take responsibility for my actions, should it come to that. However, even if I am in jail, _you_ will be as well, thereby still assisting my needs. I hope that we can settle this peaceably, in which we never speak again, except on business terms. Is that all right?"

Itachi was silent for a while. He reviewed the situation. Sasuke had found himself a nearly foolproof argument, and the boy wasn't afraid to go to jail. Then again, being proficient in several forms of martial arts, and an expert in a few more, Sasuke would have no fear of the jail. If anything, the only fear he should anticipate of that place would be boredom. Once Sasuke showed that he could take care of himself, then no one would bother him.

The red-eyed man smiled. That was an interesting prospect. He was about to disagree to the terms, just to see what would happen, but decided against it at the last minute. If he and Sasuke both ended up in jail, the Uchiha businesses would fall to nothingness.

"Fine. Your terms are agreeable."

Sasuke held out his hand to Haku, who was digging around in his briefcase.

"Here you are," he said as he handed a few pieces of paper to Sasuke.

Sasuke nodded to him. "Thank you, Haku," he replied before walking over to the desk. He placed the papers – a contract – onto the table and handed Itachi a pen.

"Just sign here. If you violate these actions, then I will have you brought up on charges," he warned.

It was a simple restraining order around the members of his household, the manor itself, and his businesses but he felt the need to do this in order to keep Itachi far away.

He just hoped that it would work.

Itachi picked up the pen, reviewed the paperwork and hastily signed the papers, handing them back to Sasuke.

"Thank you, Itachi," Sasuke let out. "Goodbye."

With that said, Sasuke and his subordinates turned and began to exit. They had almost made it to the door when Itachi called out after them.

"Sasuke, an answer first, before you leave to never grace my doorstep again."

Sasuke turned to face his older brother. "Yes?"

"Why are you doing this?"

A smirk crossed the younger Uchiha's face as he squared his shoulders confidently. "For reasons you will never understand," he said and exited. He fervently hoped that these would be the last words that he would ever have to speak to his brother.

Itachi stared after him and sighed softly.

* * *

Sasuke felt like he couldn't breathe until he had gotten into the car and Zabuza had begun to drive away.

Haku was sitting next to Sasuke. "Are you all right?" he asked softly, draping an arm over the boy's shoulders. Sasuke couldn't respond for several minutes. He didn't know if he was alright.

He was numb, for lack of better word. He couldn't feel anything. He curled into Haku's side like a child looking for the warmth of family. He knew his family was Haku, Zabuza and Naruto. He knew that, but… he couldn't let go of Itachi that easily either.

For all of the bad that Itachi had put him through, for all of the traumatic moments that he had seen because of his older brother, there had been another side to the older Uchiha. That side had taken Sasuke to the zoo when he didn't know what a beaver looked like. That side had bought Sasuke his first horse because he didn't know how to ride. That side had curled up with Sasuke when Sasuke had wanted to watch a movie, making snide comments.

That was the side his brother never showed to anyone but Sasuke.

The younger Uchiha knew that he was going to miss that side. He felt like an orphan. He had just completely disowned the only family he had left. He could feel the tears threatening to spill over. It would be one thing if Itachi was dead, but he wasn't – he just wasn't the older brother that Sasuke could respect anymore.

Sasuke snuggled more into Haku's side, not even realizing what he was doing. Haku smiled down at the boy, rubbing soothing circles in his employer's back. He chuckled when Sasuke began to curl into Haku. It was almost like having a child next to him. A large child, but a child nonetheless.

He carefully pet Sasuke's hair as the boy drifted off to sleep. His eyes met with Zabuza's in the rear-view mirror and both smiled a little bit.

Somehow, they knew that Sasuke would be okay. The two of them, and Naruto, would be here for him, so that he could realize that family doesn't always have to be blood.

The rest of the car ride was silent except for the soft snores of the slumbering Sasuke.

* * *

When they arrived back at the hospital, Haku gently shook his friend awake. "Sasuke, come on, wake up," he whispered to the boy. Sasuke groaned and mumbled something incoherently. Haku grinned and shook his friend hardly.

"Up, boy! Up!" he finally shouted.

Sasuke snapped his eyes open, glaring at Haku before realizing that his head was on Haku's leg. A deep blush settled over his features and he quickly sat up.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

Haku just laughed merrily. "No bother, Sasuke-chan," Haku teased. "Now come on, let's go visit Naruto."

Sasuke nodded sleepily and undid the seatbelt, following Haku out of the limousine.

* * *

It wasn't long before they made it to Naruto's room. Tsunade was walking out of the room when they approached.

"He's asleep right now, but he's doing fine. I think it'll only a day or two before we can release him," she explained with a smile. "He's recovering quite nicely. Just, when he does leave, make sure you take good care of him. I'll be dropping by once a week in order to check up on him, and you."

"Me?" Sasuke asked softly.

Tsunade nodded. "After all, you worry about him a lot. It's good for him. Good for you, too, but in the long run, you're going to want to be able to sleep and eat on occasion."

Sasuke flushed. He had forgotten about that short time when he hadn't because of Naruto. Tsunade laughed, a clear sound that reassured Sasuke that he was doing the right thing.

"May I see him?" he asked.

"Yes, of course."

The Uchiha turned to Haku and Zabuza. "Please wait out here," he pleaded with them. He needed his alone time with the blonde.

The two servants nodded. "Of course, Sasuke-chan!" Haku let out, not perturbed at all by the slight glare that Sasuke sent his way before he entered the room.

Sasuke looked at the sleeping form of _his_ Naruto. He reached out, running a hand over the boy's face. He started at the golden hair, down across the soft eyelids, tracing his nose next. His finger lingered on the boy's lips, memorizing their shape and softness before he moved onto the jaw line. He smiled, taking his hand back. Naruto still hadn't asked to come home with Sasuke. The raven-haired boy hadn't actually offered either. He wasn't sure how the boy would react. He had the chance at true freedom now. He wouldn't want to stay with Sasuke, of all people.

The Uchiha sighed and opened the book that Haku had brought him a few days back. He was only a little way through it, not being able to keep his thoughts on the characters for very long. Not when he was sitting next to Naruto.

It was a short while later when he noticed those cerulean orbs were open. "Hey, you," he greeted.

"Hi," Naruto replied, smiling up at Sasuke.

They fell into a comfortable silence. Neither really knew what to say and both were waiting for the other to speak first. It was Naruto that finally broke the silence.

"Those chairs don't look too comfortable," the blonde commented.

"They aren't," Sasuke informed him.

"If it's so uncomfortable, why are you sitting there?"

Sasuke leaned back, putting his book down. He was trying to figure out how to respond to that. "Because I care," he mumbled after a moment. He could feel his face heating up until he could have sworn he looked like some kind of red mutant.

"You… care?" Naruto repeated, almost as if he didn't believe him.

"You thought I didn't?" Sasuke shot back.

Naruto ducked his head. His hands clenched the hospital sheets until his knuckles were white. "I… I just… it's…" he stuttered.

Sasuke stared at him for a moment before shaking his head. "It doesn't matter. Yes, I care." It was so much easier saying these things the second time around.

"I…" Naruto went silent.

Sasuke scooted forward on the plastic of the chair. "Tell me."

Naruto shook his head. "It's nothing."

The other boy leaned over the bed, one hand on either side of Naruto's frail body. "Please tell me?"

Naruto blushed at their close proximity. "It's stupid."

"Then don't make a big deal out of it and tell me already."

"I wasn't…" With a sigh, Naruto gave in. "You didn't ask," he said flatly.

Sasuke was puzzled. "Ask what?"

"Ask me to move in with you," Naruto said, almost inaudibly.

Sasuke laughed, resting his head against Naruto's good shoulder. When his chuckles subsided, he didn't move. He didn't feel like it would be right for him to look at Naruto right now. Besides, it felt so good to be this close to the other boy.

"I didn't want you to feel obligated, especially after you found out about Tsunade. Besides, you could have asked."

"It'd've been rude."

Sasuke snickered, but soon stopped with a sigh. There was a moment of silence before he whispered haltingly, "Do you… do you want to come live with me?"

"Yes," the blonde responded immediately. "If it's no trouble and you don't mind."

Sasuke finally glanced up at Naruto, hesitating for a second before pressing his lips firmly against the blonde's. He pulled away after a moment.

"I'd love you to, Uzumaki Naruto." The underlying message didn't even need to be said.

Naruto blushed when he understood. "A-and that'll be my home?"

"For as long as you with to stay," Sasuke informed him with a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Home forever, then. Forever!"

Sasuke allowed the smile to come fully into being as he stole another kiss from the younger boy. "Forever," he echoed softly.

Sasuke looked at Naruto with a small smile on his face. Two days had passed since he had promised Naruto forever.

"They said you could leave today," he told the smaller boy.

Naruto nodded. The nurse had told him that only a few hours before. He felt healthy at the moment, almost invincible with the knowledge that he'd be able to leave this sterile building, even though his arm was still in a sling. He had been told by his grandmother – that title _still_ sent shivers down his spine – that he had to wear the sling for at least a month, possibly more. Naruto didn't really mind, though. He would've been happy in a wheelchair, so long as he was able to leave this place.

"From now, I'll take you wherever you want to go, Naruto," Sasuke was saying as he held Naruto's good hand. Naruto couldn't escape from Sasuke's intense onyx gaze, which was even darker due to the sweltering of emotions. "I'll teach you anything. I'll take do anything for you. Just please… stay with me." The boy looked exceeding embarrassed to be sprouting these words, but the sincerity was still there.

Naruto looked at him strangely before a broad grin worked its way across his face. "Okay."

Sasuke would never be able to express how happy he felt by hearing just that one word. He leaned forward and gently kissed Naruto. The blonde was giving him the most brilliant smile when he pulled back.

_Is this love?_ Naruto asked himself. _I really hope so because I don't think anything cpould be better than this._

Sasuke was smiling at him – _him!_ – and he couldn't help feeling as though he were the luckiest man on Earth.

"So, Naruto, where do you want to go?" Sasuke asked. He had been serious earlier when he had said that he would take Naruto wherever the boy desired to go.

Naruto turned to the window with a thoughtful expression on his face. When he turned back to Sasuke, he was still solemn. "Home," he breathed, barely above a whisper.

Sasuke smiled, squeezing Naruto's hand reassuringly. "I think I can arrange that._  
_

* * *

_It's out of my hands  
This was never my plan  
But I guess since it's here  
I'll stay strong where I stand  
I reach for the quiet...I live on what's left_

Ego Likeness_, I Live on What's Left_

* * *

**Author's Note**:

After two years and two months with this story, I can finally say it's completed. Like I promised, I gave a happy ending. Well, I consider it happy. I loved writing this story. I honestly adored writing this story. The characters took my idea and they went haywire with it. I'm sad to see it end, but I know that it's past time for me to finish this. And I'm glad and thankful for all of my reviewers, and especially for those who still read this.

I enjoyed this ride more than many of my others. I put more into the story here, I managed to write it well, instead of just on whim.

I really don't know what to say about it. I don't think there is anything I can say that isn't already written in the story itself.

I hope all of you enjoyed this story as much as I did.

Cheers.

_Kyuubi-kun_


End file.
